


Lena Luthor, Mother of Dragons

by Emilia_Rowan



Series: Mother of Dragons [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Chaos Ensues, Established relationship supercorp, F/F, Fluff and weirdness, Had to remove the no drugs or alcohol tag, Kara is an alien, Mostly Fluff, Smut, and now there’s smut, i was drunk when I started writing chapter four, kara lays eggs, kryptonian reproduction, kryptonians are oviparous, married supercorp, oh look there’s angst now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2020-11-02 02:15:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 45,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20587616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emilia_Rowan/pseuds/Emilia_Rowan
Summary: Sometimes Lena forgets that her wife is an alien. She is always abruptly brought crashing back to reality.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I posted a random thought on tumblr, “What if Kryptonians laid eggs?” And it got some interesting feedback and a surprising number of shares, and then this insanity happened.
> 
> I wrote this to escape from anxiety, so it’s not my best writing and I haven’t even proofread it, so excuse any errors.
> 
> It’s basically fluff and weirdness.

Sometimes, Lena could almost forget that she was married to an alien. Kara appeared and behaved so similarly to a human that Lena forgot that the woman she shared her bed with was literally out of this world.

She was always brought back to reality quite abruptly.

It wasn’t just Kara’s powers— more than three years after finding out Kara was Supergirl, those were almost mundane.

It was odd little things. Like Kara telling her “I love you” in Kryptonese for the first time and making sounds that were impossible to make with human vocal folds. Or when Kara made a low, rumbling purr while they cuddled on the sofa. Or, on their honeymoon in Aspen, Kara going out to retrieve a bag from the car during a snowstorm wearing nothing but skimpy lingerie because the cold didn’t affect her. Or the realization that Kara’s skin and hair were a different texture than that of a human.

That realization had come after the first time they made love. The bedroom was awash in red light from the red sun lamps Lena had designed to dampen Kara’s powers so she felt more comfortable being intimate without risking breaking her human girlfriend. Lena was lying on her back in bed, skin damp with sweat, hair sticking to her face and neck, chest still heaving and body still quivering with aftershocks. Kara was cradled between her legs, cheek resting against the soft swell of Lena’s tummy. She pressed a kiss beside Lena’s bellybutton as Lena carded her fingers through blonde locks.

It was then, brain fuzzy with afterglow, that Lena realized it. Her fingertips froze as she processed the sensation, and then she felt Kara stiffen against her. She looked down, green eyes meeting worried blue.

“Your hair feels…” She couldn’t quite describe it. It was downy soft, but the strands were not singular shafts. Instead each strand felt as if it were covered in microscopic, velvety barbs. It reminded Lena of feathers, and she was suddenly hit with the urge to look at the strands under a microscope. But one look at Kara’s expression and she reined in her curiosity, and finished her sentence. “... _different_.”

“I… It’s because I’m Kryptonian. Our hair and skin aren’t quite the same as a human’s,” Kara said shyly.

Lena couldn’t stop her hands from moving from Kara’s hair down to her shoulders. Her fingertips smoothed over the skin there, then pressed slightly harder to absorb more sensation. Kara’s flesh didn’t give under her ministrations, unyielding as steel beneath Lena’s fingers. Now that she was paying attention, Lena wondered how she hadn’t noticed the subtle difference in texture before. Kara’s skin was soft and dry— she didn’t sweat with exertion— but more than that it had a slight overlapping texture to it.

“Do you have… _scales_?” Lena asked incredulously, though she already knew the answer. The texture wasn’t obvious to the naked eye, nor from just a passing touch, but as she slowly dug her fingertips into the skin of Kara’s shoulders, she could feel the slight microscopic pattern.

“Yes,” Kara said nervously. “Is that okay?”

The anxiety in Kara’s voice pulled at Lena’s heartstrings. She stored away her curiosity— at least for the moment— in favor of comforting her girlfriend. She ran her fingertips from Kara’s shoulder down to her hand which she promptly brought to her lips.

“It’s very okay,” Lena said as she pressed kisses to Kara’s palm and then to her wrist. She pulled the spry Kryptonian up for a kiss and proceeded to show her just how okay it was. Her girlfriend was an alien, and apparently she had scales and feathers, but she was still Kara, still the woman Lena loved more than she had ever loved anyone else. Lena could handle scales.

It wasn’t until the next night, cuddled up on the sofa, that Kara simultaneously explained her physical differences and blew Lena’s mind.

“Did I ever tell you Kryptonians are descended from dragons?”

Lena had been reaching for popcorn, but she froze with her hand halfway to the bowl. She looked over at Kara with wide eyes, searching her face for any sign that she was jesting, but her expression was completely serious.

“_Dragons_?”

Kara’s cheeks flushed. “Well, not dragons exactly, but that’s the closest creature I can think of to our ancestor, except they didn’t have wings, and they had this feather-like mane. Humans evolved relatively quickly compared to Kryptonians. It was millions of years before Krypton’s destruction when our ancestors were dragon-like creatures. They were extremely intelligent and had the same abilities that I do. They were omnivores but they mostly absorbed energy from the sun. Eventually they evolved to be more humanoid and the abilities were lost under the red sun Rao, but they stayed dormant until we were under a yellow sun like Sol.”

Lena saw a Level-10 Ramble coming before it even started, so she quickly grabbed Kara’s hand in her own, abandoning her quest for popcorn, and began stroking soothing circles on her palm.

“Kara, I don’t care if you’re descended from a dragon or a goat,” she said firmly. “I love you, I’m in love with you, and I’m going to keep loving you even if you grow horns and a tail.”

There were neither horns nor tails. There were other surprises, though. Lena eventually got clearance to look at Kryptonian tissue samples— Alex still wasn’t very happy about that, even if she and Kara had been dating for three months at the time— and saw the filoplume-like structure of Kara’s hair, and the miniscule interlocking layers of scales that made her skin impenetrable. She also learned that Kara’s nails were thick and connected to the bones in her fingertips, her bones were more elastic and porous than human bones, but made of a material that was much stronger, and her skin cells contained chloroplast-like mitochondria that converted solar radiation into energy her body could use.

After extensive scientific study, three years of friendship, six months of dating, a year-long engagement, and almost a year of marriage, Lena thought she knew Kara and all of her alien quirks well. She certainly knew them better than anybody else, with the possible exception of Alex and Eliza Danvers. So when a new and concerning quirk popped up seemingly out of nowhere, Lena dialed the only person who might have a clue what was going on, the second contact in her speed dial.

“What’s wrong with Kara?”

Lena’s brows furrowed at the immediate answer.

“Hello, dear sister-in-law. You do realize that I call you sometimes when nothing is wrong with Kara, right? Just last week I called you to invite you and the other Mrs. Danvers-Olsen over for dinner.”

“Lena, let me explain this in a way that you’ll understand,” Alex replied drolly. “It is 10:30 on a Friday night. I just got home from a date with my gorgeous wife who is currently naked in our bed and I already have one leg in a harness. So if you’re calling and nothing is wrong with Kara, I will make Brainy hack L-Corp’s email system and send all of your employees that video of you drunk in an ugly Christmas sweater singing ‘Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer’ a capella.”

Lena felt the blood rush to her cheeks at the memory, but it was a pointless threat because something was, in fact, wrong with Kara.

“Kara’s in the closet. She locked herself in there this morning and wouldn’t come out and she won’t come out now, hasn’t been out all day. She hasn’t had any food or water and there are no windows in there. When I tried to open the door she hissed at me, Alex— _hissed_!”

Alex sighed. “Dammit, I thought getting her to admit her feelings for you and go on a date was the only time I would have to get her out of the closet.”

“Not funny, Alex,” Lena grumbled.

“I know, but Kelly says it’s better for me to respond to stress with humor than my usual rage,” Alex said. “She hasn’t locked herself in a small space since college. She did it sometimes when she first arrived on Earth, and she did it a couple of times in college when she got overwhelmed. Is there soft stuff in the closet?”

“All the spare bedding and our clothes,” Lena said. “It’s a big closet you know.”

“Yeah, I’m aware, your closet is the size of my living room,” Alex replied. “Sounds like she’s nesting again. Something must’ve stressed her out. The hissing is new though. I know it’s hard, but give her tonight and if she still isn’t out in the morning I’ll come over and we’ll see if she’ll let either of us in.”

_Nesting_. That was a new one. Lena hung up, knowing Alex had other _activities_ to get back to, and walked over to the closet door.

“Kara?” she called, but the only reply was a low hiss. “I’m going to bed, darling. Alex is coming over to check on you in the morning. I hope I see you then. I love you.”

It was the first night since the first time Kara said _I love you_ when they had just started dating that Lena didn’t hear those words before bed. Whether in person or by phone or, on rare occasion when Kara was Super busy or Lena was traveling in another time zone, by text message, Kara had always made a point to tell Lena she loved her before bed.

For obvious reasons, Lena couldn’t sleep.

She was out of bed at dawn, preparing a Kryptonian-sized breakfast. She thought the smell of cinnamon buns and bacon might draw Kara out of the closet, but as nine o’clock rolled around and the untouched breakfast sat cooled on the expansive kitchen island, Kara was still tucked away in the closet. Lena was too anxious to stomach actual food so she sat on the foot of her bed and sipped her third cup of steaming black coffee while staring at the closet doors.

When Alex and Kelly showed up at 9:30 bearing sticky buns to add to the piles of food, relief flooded Lena’s system. Surely Alex, with her personal knowledge of Kara and her professional knowledge of most-things alien, would know what to do in this situation.

“If I don’t come out in fifteen minutes, come in and bring this,” Alex told her, thrusting a small metal case into her hands.

Lena paled. “Is this…”

“Yep, very small dose of Kryptonite,” Alex said. “I would bet she’s just stressed about something, but the hissing is worrying, especially because you’re her mate and she’s hissing at you. Clark recommended I bring a small dose just in case she’s encountered something that has made her unreasonable or possibly delusional.”

With no other fanfare, Alex disappeared into the closet. Lena set a timer on her phone, but looked up abruptly when she heard more hissing through the door.

“Calm down, Kara, it’s just me,” she heard Alex say. The hissing stopped.

“Alex?” Kara replied softly, and Lena’s heart broke at the weakness she could hear in Kara’s voice.

“Why don’t we go make her a plate in case she doesn’t want to come out to eat?” Kelly suggested from Lena’s bedroom doorway.

Lena was reluctant to leave the room, but Kelly had a good point, so she nodded. She pulled a large plate— more of a serving platter really— from the cabinet and began loading it down with a little bit of everything she had prepared. It wouldn’t be enough for a famished Kryptonian that hadn’t eaten in over twenty-four hours, but it was a good start.

“Hey,” Kelly said softly as Lena slammed the microwave door. “Everything’s gonna be okay. I’m sure between you and Alex you’ll figure out what’s happening with her and everything will go back to normal. You’ll see.”

Lena looked up at Kelly as she searched for words. Kelly loved Kara like a sister. She knew Kara well, knew she was Supergirl, knew she was Kryptonian. But Kelly had never lived with Kara. She heard secondhand stories from Alex and Lena, but Kelly only ever experienced Kara’s human side. She didn’t see the small alien quirks that Lena and Alex had seen. She didn’t see how Kara sometimes struggled with English idioms, or still made spelling and grammatical errors in her writing in spite of doing it professionally for years, because English wasn’t her first language and she would always fall back to Kryptonese when stressed or emotional or just in a hurry. She didn’t see how Kara sometimes cried when the sunset turned the world a certain shade of red that reminded her so much of Krypton. She didn’t see how Kara mixed her foods in sometimes-disgusting combinations because the flavors reminded her of home.

The truth was, there was no normal with Kara. Lena had known that when they began dating, had known it even more acutely when they got married. She had married an alien and a trauma survivor. But Lena loved Kara for all that she was. She just worried that one day her love might not be enough to deal with Kara’s trauma or her alienness, and that terrified her.

Twelve minutes after disappearing into the closet, Alex emerged with her arms full of a fluffy white comforter.

“Do you have a biohazard bag?” Alex asked.

“Shockingly enough I don’t keep biohazard bags in my home, why do you— Oh my God,  
Is that blood?” Lena exclaimed as Alex drew closer and her eyes finally saw the rusty red stains on the satin of the comforter.

“Yeah, I need to take this to the DEO incinerator because it has Kara’s DNA,” Alex explained, not calming Lena in the slightest.

“There are trash bags in the pantry,” Lena called as she left them in the kitchen and ran through the bedroom door. Her heart pounded in her chest, the sound echoing in her ears. Kara hadn’t been injured when she went into the closet, at least not that Lena could see, so what on earth had she done to herself to bleed like that?

The closet door clicked shut behind her and Lena was washed in dim red light. It took a minute for her to realize it was the small red sun lamp they took with them when they travelled. It wasn’t strong enough to completely rid Kara of her powers, but it weakened her enough that she felt safe having sex without the risk of breaking her human wife. Lena’s eyes adjusted slowly, taking in the destruction of her closet.

At least half of the clothes and all of the spare bedding had been pulled off the shelves and hangers. Lena’s collection of satin blouses littered the floor and a velvet dress was heaped near the back corner. The bedding was mostly piled in the center of the room, making a round bowl-shape of pillows covered with comforters and soft blankets.

_Nesting. Right._

Kara was curled up in the center of the nest, a thick blanket and comforter pulled up around her shoulders, covering her from the neck down. Her head was resting on the side of her nest, one of Lena’s favorite cashmere sweaters tucked beneath her cheek. Even in the red light Lena thought she looked abnormally pale and haggard.

“Kara?” she called softly.

Kara’s eyes snapped open, revealing fully-dilated pupils, and she bared her teeth in a hiss.

“Easy, darling, it’s just me, it’s Lena,” she said.

Kara’s pupils shrank back to their normal size and her brow crinkled as she focused. “Lena?”

“I’m right here,” Lena assured her, slowly stepping a bit closer. “Can I… Can I come into your nest?”

“Yes, please,” Kara replied softly.

Lena circled the piles of plush fabric until she could step in. She knelt down in front of Kara and studied her face for any injuries, but she saw nothing.

“Are you hurt? Alex said there was blood,” Lena said, tugging at the covers that were over Kara, but she held them tight.

“No, I’m fine now,” Kara insisted. “But, um… I need to tell you something… Show you something.”

Lena’s heart began pounding again. “Okay. Is it the reason you’ve been hiding in here?”

Kara nodded. “Do you, um… Do you remember how I told you Kryptonians are descended from dragons?”

Lena blinked. “Kara, if you’re hiding a tail under these blankets…”

“No! I told you, no tail!” Kara insisted. “But, um, well… before we started using the birthing matrix to create and carry our offspring, Kryptonians were oviparous.”

Lena stared at Kara in shock. “What?”

“It means we laid eggs—“

“I know what it means!” Lena exclaimed. “I just… Okay, but they didn’t lay eggs anymore.”

Kara shook her head. “Not for centuries.  
But apparently we still have the ability.”

“What do you mean, still have the ability?” Lena asked. Part of her brain already knew, but another part was telling her it was impossible.

Kara bit her lip and slowly pulled back the covers from her body. She was wearing nothing but a sports bra, and pressed against the skin of her stomach were two oblong, melon-sized eggs.

“You laid eggs!” Lena exclaimed. “How?”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly pleasant,” Kara muttered, curling closer around the eggs.

“But we’re… I mean… I’m not exactly a father,” Lena said, confused.

“Biological sex didn’t matter on Krypton,” Kara explained. “Conception is… complicated. The couple has to be bonded, physically and emotionally. It’s one of the reasons we started using the Matrix, that level of trust and intimacy became very rare on Krypton. I didn’t know I was physically capable of it, and I definitely didn’t think it was possible with a human female, but here we are. Here _they_ are.”

Lena’s heart stuttered at that. She looked down at the eggs Kara was protectively curled around. The shells were slightly iridescent; they looked mostly gold in the red light, but also shone blue and darker burgundy at a certain angle. They were the size of melons, which was the part Lena couldn’t quite comprehend.

“You didn’t look pregnant or anything,” Lena said, still in shock.

“I wasn’t,” Kara said simply. “The only indication was that I ate three times as much as normal over the last few days. I didn’t know why I was so hungry. They form quickly, and they come out soft, thank Rao. Right now they’re just shell and embryo. They’ll get even larger before they hatch, the shell expands.”

“Hatch… right.” Suddenly Lena felt faint. The tiny closet didn’t have enough oxygen, the air was thick and heavy and she couldn’t draw it into her lungs. The red room spun in her vision, and then everything went black.

****  
Suddenly everything was too bright again.

“Hey, welcome back to the land of the living.”

Lena groaned at the sound of Kelly’s voice.  
Part of her had hoped she would wake up in bed with Kara, that this all would’ve been some weird dream. Instead she was laid out on top of the covers of her bed and her sister-in-law was sitting beside her, bottle of water in hand.

“This is for you,” she said, following Lena’s gaze and offering her the water. “Do I need to remind you yet again that coffee and liquor do not actually keep you hydrated?”

Lena sat up slowly, trying to keep the room from spinning. She took the proffered water and gulped down several swallows, still trying to wrap her mind around the morning’s events.

“So, apparently congratulations are in order?” Kelly said softly, but her tone was a question.

“I… It’s a lot to take in,” Lena said finally.

“I bet,” Kelly nodded solemnly. “How are you feeling? Other than lightheaded.”

“Still a bit confused, honestly,” Lena admitted. “Relieved that Kara seems to be fine, at least. Overwhelmed. I never thought… Neither of us did, obviously. This shouldn’t be possible.”

Kelly hummed softly in understanding. “Have you two ever talked about kids?”

“A few times,” Lena replied. “But we were both up in the air about it, really. With what we both do and who we are, it makes having children complicated. And we thought it was physically impossible together. Kara didn’t think she could have children at all. We had talked about me possibly having a child using a donor. Or adoption. But that was all years in the future. This is… sudden.”

Kelly nodded and reached up to rub between Lena’s shoulder blades. Lena was constantly grateful for the younger Olsen sibling, especially in times like this, when someone needed to have a cool head and soothe the rest of their group. She was definitely a perfect balance for the more hot-headed Danvers sister.

“Is Alex…?”

“She’s checking Kara over, physically,” Kelly answered her vague question. “Apparently Kara’s instincts told her to find a small, dark, safe place, so she went to the closet, and when she figured out what was happening she got the portable sunlamp out of your suitcase because she was afraid her superstrength would damage the eggs.” Kelly paused momentarily. “God there were so many things in that explanation that would make no sense to anybody not part of our family.”

Lena couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “That’s what we get for loving a Kryptonian.”

Kelly nodded and went back to stroking Lena’s back. Suddenly Alex appeared in the doorway of the closet, arms again full of stained clothing and sheets, medical bag slung over one arm as well.

“I’d call you _Daddy_ but that’s too kinky even for me,” she said with a shit-eating grin.

Lena just rolled her eyes and looked at Kelly. “Honestly, how do you stand her?”

“I give just as good as I get,” Kelly whispered before looking up coyly at her wife. “Babe, I told you, you’re not allowed to call anybody _Daddy_ but me, and then only in the bedroom.”

Alex flushed red to the tips of her ears and Lena snorted as she tried to hold back giggles. Unrestrained laughter echoed from the depths of the closet as well.

“Any chance she’s coming out of there?” Lena asked.

Alex sighed. “Give her a few more hours. Her hormones are still running rampant and she’s functioning on instinct. I’m gonna call Clark and give him the happy news and ask him why the hell nobody thought to warn me that Kara laid eggs, even if it didn’t seem remotely possible, and also get any info on Kryptonian incubation.”

Alex disappeared into the kitchen with a huff. Lena sighed and looked back at the closet door.

“I need to go to her,” she said softly. “I didn’t have the best reaction… obviously. But I’m not sure… I don’t know what to say.”

“Just reassure her that you love her,” Kelly said. “And maybe take food. That’s the fastest way into Kara’s good graces.”

Lena chuckled at that. “Truer words have never been spoken.”

Five minutes later she made her way into the closet with a tray laden with leftover breakfast food. Apparently Alex had delivered the platter Lena had abandoned in the microwave earlier while Lena was unconscious and Kara had already scarfed that down.

Kara was still tucked into what remained of her nest, Alex having removed anything that had gotten Kryptonian blood on it during the birthing process. The small room was now filled with golden light, the sunlamp having been switched from its red sun function to its yellow sun function, a setting Lena had added so Kara could quickly regain her full powers after they were intimate, or to use in an emergency. Kara already looked healthier in the yellow glow and with one plate of food in her belly. Her eyes lit up when she saw Lena and the food she was carrying.

“My hero,” she gushed as Lena sat down carefully with the tray of food.

Lena chuckled at her enthusiasm. “That’s me, Lena Luthor-Danvers, saving her wife one strip of bacon at a time.”

“And one kiss at a time,” Kara said, looking at Lena expectantly, and Lena could never deny her wife a kiss.

She meant for the kiss to be quick, but as soon as her lips touched Kara’s the emotions of the last day and a half caught up with her. She poured her residual fear and relief into the soft caress of her lips, trying to portray how much she treasured her wife in every stroke and pull.

When they finally parted Lena felt damp trails streaming down her cheeks. Kara reached up and softly wiped away her tears.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again, Kara Zor-El Luthor-Danvers,” Lena said with a sigh.

“I make no promises, but I’ll try,” Kara replied honestly. She pressed another kiss to Lena’s forehead. “I’m sorry that I scared you. I didn’t mean to. Everything just happened so fast and I didn’t know what was happening to me at first, but my instincts were so strong. And I _hissed_ at you! I can’t believe I did that, I’m so sorry! I was just so protective.”

“It’s okay, Kara, really. I’m not angry, I’m just relieved that you're okay,” Lena assured her.

Kara bit her lip. “Are _we_ okay?”

Lena sighed and looked down between them. The two unexpected eggs lay side by side, tucked between their bodies. Lena reached out a hesitant hand, glancing at Kara for any sign of defensiveness, but Kara allowed her to stroke the smooth surface of the closest egg. It was firm but smooth, similar in texture to Kara’s skin, though the scaly texture was a bit more pronounced.

“I still can’t wrap my brain around our children being in there,” Lena admitted. “I guess for humans those bonding chemicals happen when they hold a living child. Rationally I understand that they’re yours and mine but… I wish I felt more.”

“You will,” Kara assured her. “I know it’s strange for you, but like you said, once they hatch and you hold our babies, you’ll feel it.”

More tears streamed down Lena’s face and she didn’t even try to hide them. “But what if I don’t? What if I’m too broken for this, Kara? What if I don’t know how to love them like a mother?”

Kara cupped Lena’s cheeks in her hands. “Listen to me, _Zhao_. You are the most loving human being I have ever met. You have the biggest heart, Lena Luthor-Danvers, and you love so big and so strong that it leaves me in awe of you. There has never been any doubt in my mind that if we ever had children, however we decided to do it, you would love them so fiercely that even I couldn’t compete. I know this isn’t anything we planned or even thought possible, and there are a million worries and fears running through my mind, but whether or not you will love these babies isn’t one of them.”

Tears streamed freely down both their faces as Kara held Lena as close as possible with the eggs resting between them. After a few minutes Lena reached down and began tracing patterns over the surface of both eggs, trying to wrap her head around their new reality.

“When Krypton was destroyed, and I was caught in the Phantom Zone, I felt so alone,” Kara said finally. “And when I came to Earth I met Clark and I knew I wasn’t quite the last of my kind, but I thought we would be the last, and that was such an isolating feeling. I met the Danvers and I met Alex and I wasn’t alone anymore but I wasn’t whole, either. And when I met you it was like you made me complete. We’re so similar, you and I, like two parts of one whole. But there was still this longing for more, and I thought it was impossible. But you and I, Lena, we made the impossible happen. Kryptonians can’t conceive like this unless the two mates are deeply, lovingly bonded. Our love did something that hasn’t happened in centuries, Lena. I know you don’t believe in miracles but this is…”

“Miraculous,” Lena finished for her. “Our little miracles.” Suddenly a thought occurred to her and she burst into uncontrollable giggles. “Our little dragons!”

Kara snorted. “Lena Luthor, Mother of Dragons.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reality of the situation sets in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow angst entered the fluffy crack fic, but don’t worry, I promise any chapters with angst will be resolved by the end of that chapter, no emotional cliffhangers here.

Monday morning found Lena and Kara heading into the DEO hub for more information about Kryptonian incubation. Kara was tense, every muscle on alert beneath her supersuit as she held one egg tight to her chest. Lena at least looked more relaxed, but she kept one eye on her wife as she cradled the second egg in her arms.

The remainder of their weekend had been… eventful, to say the least. Kara had finally emerged from the closet and relocated her nest to their king-size bed, surrounding them with piles of pillows and more blankets than either of them really needed. Lena couldn’t deny that snuggling with her wife in the nest was fun, even if there were two hard objects sandwiched between them. It took another twelve hours for Kara’s hormones to calm enough that she would leave the bedroom and enter the rest of their apartment, and Lena had honestly worried that she wouldn’t make it to the DEO that morning, but her wife’s sunny disposition seemed to have returned.

That is, until Alex led them to a conference room packed with people. Brainy was controlling multiple computer screens and a device specially made to read Kryptonian data crystals. Eliza Danvers was watching him with barely-restrained curiosity— Lena wasn’t particularly surprised to see her mother-in-law, was more surprised she hadn’t shown up to their apartment before now. J’onn J’onzz and Superman were standing near the head of the table, speaking in hushed tones.

Lena felt Kara tense beside her, heard the way her breath caught in her throat, saw the way her arms tensed around the egg she was cradling. She shifted the egg she was carrying into one arm and wrapped the other around Kara’s waist.

“It’s okay, Kara,” she murmured so that only Kryptonian ears could hear her. “This is our family. They’re going to love and protect our babies as well. There’s no safer place for them than in this room, surrounded by the people who love them.”

Kara lowered her head to the bend of Lena’s neck and breathed deeply, getting her emotions back under control. She pressed a final kiss to Lena’s cheek as she straightened again.

A shuffling sound drew her attention and Lena realized that in her distraction, Clark had quickly crossed the room to stand directly in front of them. As soon as Kara realized how close he was her body tensed and she let out a low hiss. Lena thought she might just let Kara kill her cousin for his sheer stupidity.

But then Superman did something unexpected. He dropped to one knee, bowed his head to them, and began speaking in Kryptonese.

“_I, Kal-El, last son of the noble House of El, make this pledge to the children of Kara Zor-El and Lena Luthor: With my mind I will teach them, with my heart I will love them, and with my body I will protect them from all harm. This I swear on the honor of my House_.”

He looked up with hopeful eyes and when Lena looked over at Kara her eyes were shining with tears and her face was split into a wide smile.

“_I accept your pledge_,” Kara replied in Kryptonese before switching to English. “Thank you, Kal.”

Superman stood and smiled as he looked between them and the eggs they carried. “I never thought I would have the honor of saying those words, but I am so happy that I can.”

Kara nudged Lena’s elbow. “It was tradition on Krypton, the day after a child was born from the Matrix, family and friends would gather and speak the words Kal-El just spoke.”

“I would’ve waited until after they hatch, but I thought my oath might relax Kara as well,” Clark said with a smile. Then his voice became low. “I am happy for you, cousin. For both of you. And I am deeply sorry that I ever questioned the bond you share.”

Even though Lena had proven herself time and time again, when she and Kara had begun dating, Clark Kent had been suspicious. Lena, for her part, hadn’t blamed him at all, and was only slightly annoyed by the whole thing. Kara, on the other hand, had been furious. Lena wasn’t exactly sure what had happened between the cousins but it involved the DEO repairing a crater in the desert and Superman on sick leave under sunlamps for twenty-four hours. Clark hadn’t said anything untoward about their relationship again, but Lena had still felt a need to prove herself, not just to Kara’s cousin but to all of their ragtag little found family.

J’onn approached with more caution than Clark, knowing he didn’t have the benefit of blood relation on his side, but Kara was much more relaxed now. He pressed his forehead to Kara’s and then, surprisingly, turned to Lena and did the same thing.

“Centuries ago I lost my family to tragedy,” he said softly. “And many years ago I made my own oath to a friend. Kara and Alex became the daughters of my heart. In time, Lena, you too have become so like a daughter to me. I would be honored if you allow me to love and protect your children as well.”

Lena blinked away her tears. “Well, they will need a grandfather.”

She glanced at Kara and saw her beaming with approval. J’onn’s face split into a wide smile, though his eyes were damp.

“I would like that very much,” he replied with a soft laugh.

“Speaking of grandparents,” came a soft voice from beside Kara. Eliza wrapped an arm gently around Kara’s shoulders and squeezed. “I thought my first grandchildren would come from Alex and Kelly adopting, but this is a welcome surprise. Congratulations, girls.”

“Thank you, Eliza,” Kara murmured into her adoptive mother’s shoulder.

“You’re going to be wonderful mothers,” Eliza said as she rounded them and wrapped Lena in a hug.

“You really think so?” Lena mumbled, her insecurity bubbling up before she could stop herself.

Eliza clasped her hand tightly. “I know so.”

“I believe we’re missing a grandparent,” Brainy called as the computer screen above him blinked to life and a frazzled-looking Alura In-Ze stared out at them.

“Mom?” Kara exclaimed, stepping further into the room.

“Brainy? Is it work— Oh! Kara! There you are!” Alura said with a bright smile.

“How did you manage a communication feed to Argo?” Lena asked Brainy softly as Kara began talking to her mother.

“I adapted a Tarnathian communication device we confiscated from a black market dealer,” Brainy told her excitedly. “Changing it to pick up Kryptonian hologram frequencies was simple, the difficult part was converting those into a video feed.”

“Okay, talk shop later, let’s get down to business,” Alex said sharply.

“Yes, Director,” Lena said with a teasing grin. Alex subtly flipped her the bird while everyone took their seats. Lena took a seat beside Kara, who was closest to the communications monitor.

“I asked everyone here to compile any information they might have on Kryptonian reproduction,” Alex told them. “Clark?”

“I searched the data crystals in the Fortress,” Clark told them, then shook his head. “They contained data about the Birthing Matrix and how to possibly replicate it if there was a large enough population of Kryptonians, but nothing about natural reproduction except a snippet about it being exceedingly rare and inefficient.”

“And all of the data Jeremiah and I have on Kryptonians came from Clark, so that’s all I could find as well,” Eliza supplied without being asked.

Alex nodded. “J’onn?”

“The ancient scrolls mentioned Kryptonians as a slowly dying race,” he replied. “Kryptonians came to Mars at a time when their race was dwindling. The scrolls noted that they were a powerful, intelligent race, but had secluded themselves from each other, and because of this they did not produce offspring.”

“That’s why they invented the Birthing Matrix, right?” Kara asked, looking toward the screen.

“Yes, with the Matrix, DNA could be taken from any two Kryptonians and combined to make a child,” Alura explained. “As a result, marriages on Krypton became more about politics and joining powerful houses than love and trust. Natural reproduction was considered backward and, as Kal-El said, inefficient. Much like you, we thought it was impossible for us to reproduce that way any longer. But there was one recent natural birth before the destruction of Krypton. It was seen as quite a scandal when Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van had a son via egg rather than the Matrix.”

“What?” Kara gasped.

“I hatched from an egg!” Clark exclaimed.

Alura smiled softly. “Lara and Jor-El were the most closely-bonded couple I ever met. They loved each other dearly, but even they were surprised when Lara produced an egg. It was hushed up, as many things were in those days, so people wouldn’t begin questioning the Matrix. Jor-El kept detailed handwritten records, but he didn’t trust putting them into the data collective. A bit paranoid, that man, but rightfully so.”

“Do you have those records?” Lena asked.

“Of course I do,” Alura scoffed, as if offended by the very idea of discarding scientific research.

According to Jor-El’s notes, a Kryptonian female carried the embryo (or in Kara’s case, embryos) within her for approximately one _lorakh_— a Kryptonian month, or eighty-four Earth days— before laying eggs. Once the eggs were laid, they continued to develop for another _lorakh_ before hatching.

“So… we’ve got less than three months?” Lena interrupted, doing the math in her head.

“Two months and twenty-three days,” Brainy supplied. “Their birthday, or hatch-day, rather, should be—“

“I get it,” Lena said, rubbing her temples with one hand while the other held the egg in her lap. “So, what do we need during that time? Do I need to build some kind of incubator or something?”

“Kryptonian eggs don’t require a heat source,” Alura answered. “They do, however, sense the heartbeat and neural energy of whomever is near them. If an egg is not kept physically close to a living caretaker, the fetus will slowly die from abandonment.”

“So they have to be held constantly,” Lena deduced.

“At least within arm’s reach,” Alura supplied. “Also, the fetus bonds to the heartbeat and neural energy of those who care for it. For that reason it should be the parents who are primary caretakers of the eggs, so the young will not imprint on someone else, however close family and friends can act as a substitute for a short time.”

“So you’re saying that for the next two months, Kara and I have to take these eggs with us everywhere we go?” Lena asked.

“That would be best,” Alura replied.

“Lena? Are you okay?” Kara murmured.

“I just… I need a moment,” Lena replied, pushing her chair back from the table. She placed the egg she was holding in the empty seat and tried to ignore the eyes that followed her as she fled the conference room.

The hallway outside felt cooler, the air easier to breathe. Lena leaned against the wall and rubbed her aching temples as her mind raced from one scenario to another, one problem she needed to solve to the next. There was so much to do and not enough time to do it and how was she supposed to explain…

“Lena?”

She looked up to see Kara emerge from the conference room, her arms still cradled protectively around an egg. Lena fought down a wave of nausea at the sight.

“Lena, are you okay?”

“No, Kara, I’m not okay,” she sighed. “I mean… You laid eggs, Kara, fucking _eggs_. How do we explain that to people? And in eighty-four, no, eighty-two days we’re going to have babies. _Babies_, Kara! That’s not… How are we supposed to take care of babies? You’re—” Lena gestured to Kara’s suit— “Supergirl and I’m a Luthor and… Fuck! This wasn’t supposed to happen this way, not yet! We haven’t even been married a year. Some days we barely have time for each other. And now we have to deal with eggs and then babies and crying and diapers and… shit! Why is it so damn bright in here?”

“So… are you saying you don’t want this?” Kara asked, her voice soft but sharp.

Lena stiffened. “Do not put words in my mouth, Kara Zor-El.”

“It just sounds like you’re telling me you don’t want kids,” Kara said, her voice firm. “And I hate to tell you, but it’s a little late for that.”

“Well, I didn’t realize I should’ve been researching alien contraceptives for my wife,” Lena snapped. “Then at least we maybe could’ve planned to have kids not—“

“Would it ever have been in your plan, Lena?” Kara demanded. “I know we’ve talked about it hypothetically but, like you said, I’m Supergirl and you’re a Luthor. Would it have ever fit in your plans to have kids?”

“I don’t— Maybe,” Lena said with a huff. “I don’t know. I don’t know, okay? Not that it matters now. Now we just have to deal with—“ she gestured to the egg in Kara’s arms— “with this… situation.”

“So that’s what you’re gonna call this? A _situation_?”

“What would you like me to call it instead? Hmm?”

Kara suddenly deflated in front of her, her shoulders slouching beneath her cape. She looked away from Lena and down at the egg in her arms.

“I thought we were calling them _miracles_.”

Lena felt her ire drain away. She sighed. “Kara—“

Suddenly Lena’s cell phone rang, the shrill sound filling the hallway. Lena dug the device out of her pocket and glanced at the screen before turning it on silent.

“What was that?” Kara asked.

“It’s nothing,” Lena shrugged. “Kara, listen, I didn’t—“

Her phone rang again, interrupting them, and Lena muttered a curse as she saw her assistant’s contact info on the screen for a second time. She had taken the whole day off, so for Jess to be calling twice in a row meant something at L-Corp was badly amiss.

“It’s Jess,” she said with a helpless gesture to Kara as the ringing stopped.

“Better answer it then,” Kara said bitterly. “L-Corp is your baby, afterall.”

“Kara, please—“ Lena intoned as the ringing started a third time.

“Go to work, Lena,” Kara told her. “But don’t come home until you know what you want, okay?”

With that Kara disappeared back into the DEO conference room, cape swishing behind her. Lena stared at the closed door with a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach, until her phone went off a fourth time, pulling her attention away.

“Yes, Jess? What’s happening?”

********  
Lena sighed for what was probably the tenth time in fewer minutes. She had hoped mind-numbing paperwork would soothe her racing thoughts, but instead she found herself reading the same line of text over and over again and not comprehending it at all. She pushed the papers aside and swivelled her chair around to look out the window.

She was a horrible wife. She would probably be a horrible mother. Work was usually the place she felt successful when everything else in her life was falling apart, but now she couldn’t even manage to do that.

The intercom on her desk crackled to life. “Miss Luthor?”

She turned and pressed the receiving button. “Yes, Jess?”

“Director Danvers is here to see you. She brought lunch.”

Lena sighed again and resigned herself to her fate. “Thank you. Send her in.”

Lena tried to steel herself for when Alex walked through the doors, but when her sister-in-law entered wearing the knit sweater Lena and Kara had given her for Christmas and carrying a bag from Big Belly Burger, Lena felt her resolve slip.

“Please don’t lecture me on what an ass I am,” she said softly. “I’m already fully aware.”

“Oh, I didn’t plan on it, but I’m glad you already know,” Alex said as she sat across from Lena. “Mom’s dealing with Kara. So I thought I would deal with you. And I brought comfort food.”

Lena wasn’t sure what _dealing with her_ would entail, so she held her tongue as Alex divvied out the burgers and fries. They ate in silence for a few minutes, each moment eating away at Lena’s nerves until she couldn’t take it anymore.

“So how soundproof is the DEO?” she asked.

“Pretty damn, but we had a Kryptonian with superhearing and a telepathic Martian in the room, so I got the gist of the conversation,” Alex replied. “You kinda freaked out, huh?”

“I think that’s putting it lightly,” Lena mumbled around a fry.

“From my understanding Kara didn’t exactly react well, either,” Alex shrugged. “Just to clarify, I thought you wanted kids?”

“I do!” Lena exclaimed defensively. “I really do, I want kids and a family with Kara. I’m happy it’s possible, I really am. I know I didn’t exactly show it today—“ Alex snorted in agreement. “But I do. I want this. I’m just… There’s so much to do, and so little time to do it, and the whole egg thing complicates things, so... I panicked, okay?”

“That’s what I thought.” Alex crumbled up the wrapper from her cheeseburger. “So I’m here to help. Whatever problems are on your mind, we can brainstorm and figure out some solutions. We can make a plan. That’ll help put your mind at ease, won’t it?”

“Yes,” Lena admitted softly. “You’d really do that?”

Alex’s face softened. “Of course I would. Not only are these my future nieces or nephews, Lena… You’re family. And more than that, you’re my friend. You don’t have to carry the weight of the world all by yourself, you know.”

Lena lowered her head and blinked away tears. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Alex replied. “Now finish your fries and let’s get to work.”

********  
When she came home that evening, Lena found Kara on the sofa beneath the fluffiest blanket they owned, an egg resting on either side of her. The television was playing a rerun of Chopped, but Kara’s eyes tracked Lena’s movements as she hung up her coat and made her way toward the living room. She stopped a few feet away and held out a takeout bag in offering.

“I wasn’t sure how many potstickers it would take to bribe you into listening to my apology, so I thought I would start with one hundred and order more if necessary,” she said nervously.

Kara stared at her for another long moment before reaching out with grabby hands. “Gimme.”

Lena smiled and handed over the bag. Kara began spreading the multiple containers out on the table in front of her, entirely focused on food for the moment.

“Can I sit?” Lena asked, gesturing to the end of the sofa.

Kara looked at her with full chipmunk cheeks and nodded. Lena kicked off her heels and sat on the sofa, curling her legs beneath her. The shift in weight caused the egg closest to her to roll closer, resting against her thigh. She reached down and stroked the surface reverently, remembering that the growing fetus inside could sense her heartbeat and the energy from her nervous system. She wondered briefly when it might be able to hear her.

She looked up and saw Kara watching her over a tray of potstickers, chopsticks suspended between the food and her mouth. Lena opened her mouth to begin the speech she had practiced in her head for the last few hours, but the words wouldn’t come. She looked back down at the egg for a moment, then back up at Kara.

“You know I love you, right?” she asked softly.

Kara swallowed the bite she was eating and sat the plate back on the table. She reached for Lena’s hand and held it between her own.

“I do know that,” she replied, staring at their joined hands. “I don’t doubt that.”

“Okay,” Lena said, still struggling to find words. “I just… I’m sorry. I’m sorry if anything I said made you feel unloved or unwanted. I never want you to feel that way. And I never want our children to feel that way either.”

Kara looked up sharply.

“I know what it’s like to grow up feeling unwanted,” Lena continued. “I don’t ever want our children to feel that way. Because I do want them. I want a family with you, Kara, I really do. I want _this_ family.”

Lena pulled her hand away from Kara’s and reached across her lap to the other egg, moving it until it also rested between where she and Kara were sitting. She rested a hand on top of each egg, as if she could will them to feel how much she meant her words, even if they couldn’t understand.

“I want them so much,” she said resolutely. “I just… I’m scared, Kara, and you know how I get when I’m scared. I just kept thinking of all the things we need to do and get and prepare to have babies, and the things we need now just to take care of these eggs, and I got overwhelmed. I freaked out and I said things I didn’t mean and things came out wrong and… and I hurt you. I’m so sorry that I hurt you.”

Kara reached up and cupped Lena’s cheek, wiping away tears Lena hadn’t even realized were there. “I forgive you. I get it, Lena, I really do. You were scared and overwhelmed and, honestly, if I wasn’t so jacked up on Kryptonian maternal hormones I would probably be freaking out, too.”

Lena chuckled at that. She looked back down at the eggs sitting between them.

“One of us has to be the practical one,” she murmured. “Alex came to my office. We went over some of the issues I was panicking over. Made a plan. It helps me, to have a plan.”

“Alex is kinda great like that,” Kara agreed. “I’m glad she helped you. It makes me happy to see you two getting along instead of flipping each other off at the DEO.”

“Hey, that is us getting along!” Lena defended.

Kara rolled her eyes. “You two have a weird relationship.”

Lena shrugged. She studied Kara for a moment, then looked back down at the eggs between them.

“You asked me if having children would’ve ever fit into my plans,” she said softly. “I’m not sure it would’ve. I probably would’ve always had some excuse for how it wasn’t the right time, we had too much going on. But the truth is… I’m afraid I’ll screw this up. Screw _them_ up. I’ve tried to do good so many times and it gets turned around and manipulated and I screw up.”

“There’s one good thing you haven’t screwed up,” Kara interrupted. Lena looked at her curiously. “_Us._ You haven’t screwed up us, and you never will. Sure, we have disagreements and misunderstandings and we both say things we don’t mean sometimes. But we always come back to this. We always make it work. You always come back to me.”

Lena smiled. “I always will.”

“I know,” Kara said, smiling in return. “And we’re gonna do the same thing with our kids. We’re gonna make mistakes, but we’ll make it work. I have faith in us, Lena, and I have faith in you. You’re not gonna screw this up. I won’t let you.”

Lena laughed at her certainty. “You promise?”

“I promise,” Kara assured her. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Kara bounced with happiness and reached for her plate. “Alright, now that the heavy stuff’s taken care of… Potsticker?”

Lena gasped dramatically. “What? Kara Luthor-Danvers is willing to share her potstickers?”

Kara winked. “Only with you, love. Only with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment if you’re enjoying this crazy ride. I don’t know how far it’ll go, but I do have more ideas.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Date night for the soon-to-be mamas.
> 
> Basically this is all fluff and smut. You’re welcome.

The next three weeks passed in an abnormally-peaceful blur for Lena. They managed to finagle their schedules so that Kara could work from home most mornings, typing her articles while the eggs sat close at hand while Lena handled all of her dealings at L-Corp that required meeting in person. Then Kara would join Lena in her office for lunch and leave the eggs in her care while she worked on paperwork or conference calls with the eggs resting in a basket behind her desk. There were a few times that their schedule was interrupted— a Supergirl emergency for Kara, an issue in the lab for Lena— when they had to leave the eggs in the care of someone they trusted. For Kara it was simple— swing by the DEO and drop the eggs off to sit near Alex or even Brainy.

For Lena, she trusted nobody in the office except Jess— Jess, who had put two and two together about Kara’s secret identity rather quickly after walking in on Lena making out with Supergirl in her office two weeks after she started dating Kara. Her assistant had taken the reveal in stride, not even complaining about the mountainous NDAs she signed from the DEO and Lena’s personal attorneys. She hadn’t even batted an eye when Lena told her Kara laid eggs, only asking if Lena needed to begin her maternity leave then or wait until the eggs hatched, and then she had single handedly rearranged Lena’s schedule for the next two and a half months and cancelled everything for twelve weeks afterward, insisting she take a proper maternity leave when the babies arrived.

Lena had promptly called accounting and given Jess a considerable raise.

At home, their apartment had been overtaken by every baby supply known to man. Lena admitted that, in her anxious state, she had perhaps gone a bit overboard with her online shopping, ordering everything she found on lists of baby essentials, everything double, many in multiples. Over the last weekend Alex and Kelly had joined them in relocating the furniture from their shared home office and repainting the walls a soft gray that Kara and Lena had settled on for the nursery.

Overall, Lena was both pleased and shocked that things were going so smoothly. Even though she had added to her workload in order to prepare for her maternity leave, she was able to leave the office before seven most nights, and tonight was no different. She gently packed the eggs into the carrier she had designed— Kara’s original idea had been a cloth baby-sling that left Lena looking like she had two watermelon-sized breasts, so she had created her own backpack-style carrier made from the same shock-absorbing, bullet-proof material as Supergirl’s suit— and made her way home.

She expected the apartment to be empty— Kara usually spent a few hours every evening monitoring the city for crime— but instead she was pleasantly surprised to find the apartment aglow with candles and the scent of fresh herbs filling the air. Kara was in the kitchen, barefoot but still wearing her work clothes and a blue apron Nia had bought her as a gag-gift last Christmas that read “Super-Chef” across the front beneath the House of El crest. (Kara wouldn’t tell Nia, but it was now one of her most prized possessions.) Music was playing over the smart-speaker in the corner and Kara’s hips swayed to the rhythm as she worked in front of the stove.

“_Just pull me down hard and drown me in love_…” Kara sang along.

Lena’s lips spread into a wide grin as she kicked off her own heels and placed the bag holding the eggs on an empty spot on the counter. She knew that Kara knew she was there— even with music playing, she couldn’t get past super-hearing— but she padded over softly anyway, reaching to wrap her arms around her wife’s waist. But just as she reached out, Kara turned quickly and pulled her close. Kara’s hands dropped to Lena’s hips and gently pushed to move her with the music as well.

“_Come on get higher, loosen my lips, faith and desire and the swing of your hips_,” Kara sang as they danced around the kitchen island. Lena laughed, tension draining from her body as she swayed and twisted along with Kara, even humming along with the melody as the song wound down. When the music stopped Lena wrapped her arms around Kara’s waist and Kara bent slightly so her forehead could rest on Lena’s temple.

“Hi,” Lena said softly, as if anything louder would break the spell they were under.

Kara smiled brightly. “Hi, yourself.”

She bent and gave Lena a soft kiss before a hiss from the stove got her attention.

“Oops!” Kara exclaimed as she pulled away reluctantly and hurried to turn down the burner on the stove.

Lena chuckled and unzipped the eggs from their carrier and placed them in the Moses-basket Lois had given them. It came from Argo, a gift from Alura to Lois and Clark when their son Jonathan was born. Lois was happy to pass it on to Kara and Lena, and even happier that her human DNA meant Jonathan was born the human way and she hadn’t laid an egg. Once that was settled she wrapped her arms around Kara from behind, peering around her shoulder as she cooked.

“Special occasion?” she asked.

“Nothing special, really,” Kara replied. “I just thought, we’ve both been working hard trying to get everything ready for the babies. We deserve a date night.”

“I like that idea,” Lena purred, standing on her tiptoes to kiss Kara’s cheek. “Anything I can do to help?”

“You can get out the dishes and choose the wine.”

They ate at the dining room table— a rarity for them— while the eggs sat just a few feet away, golden shells glinting in the candlelight. Kara had followed one of Eliza’s recipes to make parmesan-crusted steak with a side of roasted vegetables. They talked as they ate, mostly about work. Lena told Kara about a new prototype prosthetic her medical research team had presented that morning, and Kara told Lena about the article she was helping Nia research.

“Speaking of Nia,” Kara said, taking a large sip of wine as if it would affect her. “She wants to throw us a baby shower.”

Lena’s brow furrowed quizzically. “Why would we need a baby shower? I can afford everything we need.”

“I know that and so does everyone else,” Kara replied. “But admit it, it might be nice to have a little celebration. Just close friends and family, you know. Nia suggested that instead of gifts we ask people to bring their favorite children’s books and sign them, so it’s more personal.”

Lena sipped her own wine. “I do like that idea.”

Kara beamed with happiness. “I thought you might. Can you imagine? You and me, tucking our kids in bed each night, and reading them a book that one of our friends picked out especially for them?”

Lena nodded and stared at her near-empty plate. She could imagine, and the image in her mind should fill her with happiness, but there was a bittersweet quality to it. It brought memories to the surface that she usually tried to suppress.

“Lena?”

She looked up sharply to see Kara studying her with a worried expression.

“I’m sorry, what were you saying, darling?”

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Kara asked softly.

“It’s nothing,” Lena insisted, shaking her head, but Kara continued to give her that soft look that said she knew it was something, and that Lena could trust her with it. Lena sighed. “It’s just a memory, that’s all. When I was little, Lex would sneak into my room at night and read to me. It was never children’s books, of course. He would read snippets of whatever he was studying, philosophy or historical documents usually. It probably bored me to sleep, honestly, but it was… comforting.”

Kara slid her chair around the corner of the table and turned Lena until she was facing her. She took Lena’s hands in hers and held them gently.

“It’s okay to remember the good times, you know,” she said softly. “And it’s okay to mourn the brother you remember. Don’t ever be afraid to talk to me about those things.”

Lena drew their joined hands up to her face and kissed Kara’s knuckles. “You’re too good to me, you know.”

“You deserve it,” Kara assured her. “Now, how about I draw you a hot bath?”

“Only if you’ll join me,” Lena said, looking at her with hooded eyes.

“I think that can be arranged.”

Kara sped to the bathroom so quickly that Lena’s napkin blew off the table. Lena took their dirty dishes to the kitchen before following behind. She had a good feeling about where this night was headed, and since Alura had assured them that Kara wouldn’t make more eggs until the current ones hatched and their offspring were more self-sufficient, Lena was very excited for what might happen.

Kara had arranged candles in the bathroom as well, filling the space with the smell of vanilla and lavender. Lena set the eggs a few feet away from the tub— safe from splashing distance— and began peeling off her work clothes.

“There that should be…” Kara’s voice trailed off, and Lena glanced up. Her wife was frozen, still half bent over the tub, but looking slack-jawed at Lena as her skirt dropped to the floor. Lena hadn’t anticipated tonight being a date night, but she was thankful she had decided to wear her lace-trimmed black bra and matching panties.

“Like what you see?” Lena asked coyly.

Kara nodded mutely for a moment, then seemed to collect herself. She straightened up and crossed the room to stand in front of Lena, blue eyes trailing over her body.

“We probably shouldn’t get this wet,” she said softly as she skimmed her fingers down Lena’s arms. She found the front-clasp of the bra easily and deftly unhooked it, watching with unabashed hunger as the material fell away from Lena’s breasts. She bent and kissed Lena’s shoulder as she pushed the straps down and Lena shimmied out of the material, then trailed her lips down, pressing a chaste kiss first to one nipple and then the other.

“Mmm, Kara,” Lena sighed as her wife dropped down to her knees— a sight that never failed to make Lena drip— and pressed a kiss just beside her navel.

“Oops, looks like these are already wet,” Kara teased as she pulled Lena’s panties down her legs. Lena stepped out of the lacy material carefully, and her heart thundered in her chest as Kara brought the fabric to her nose and inhaled.

“Kara,” Lena husked, but suddenly Kara was standing in front of her.

“I’m going to go clean up,” she said, kissing Lena quickly on the lips. “You just get in the bath and relax, okay?”

Lena nodded mutely and Kara was gone in a flash yet again, leaving her standing there quivering with arousal. She shook her head to clear her senses and a grin pulled at her lips as she pinned her hair up and slipped into the hot water.

The only indication that Kara had returned, just a few minutes later, was a sudden breeze and the appearance of the portable red sun lamp on the bathroom counter. Then strong hands were pressing at Lena’s shoulders, urging her to scoot forward in the tub. Kara slid into the bath behind Lena, her long legs framing Lena’s hips, her strong, lithe form melting into Lena’s soft curves. Lena sighed as she relaxed into Kara’s embrace, her head falling back onto her wife’s shoulder as strong arms twined around her waist.

“There we go,” Kara murmured as she settled. “Comfy?”

“Very,” Lena purred, and she could feel Kara’s grin against her skin as she pressed a kiss into the side of her neck.

“Let me take care of you,” Kara murmured as she kissed her again. “Hold out your arm.”

Lena did as she was told and Kara began massaging her skin with her favorite bath sponge. She copied the movements with her other arm, then trailed the sponge up to Lena’s shoulders. She squeezed the scented water from the sponge and Lena could practically feel the burn of Kara’s gaze on her as the rivulets streamed down her chest, disappearing into the bath just above her nipples.

“Kara,” she sighed as the sponge trailed lightly down her chest.

“Shh, I’ve got you,” Kara assured her. Suddenly the sponge was gone, replaced by Kara’s hands just beneath the water’s surface. She palmed a breast in each hand, squeezing lightly before gently stroking along the sides in a way that made Lena shiver in spite of the warm water. Kara bent her head and bit down on Lena’s shoulder just as she tugged lightly at her nipples, sending a bolt straight through Lena’s body to her core and causing her to thrash so violently that water splashed over the side of the tub.

“Fuck,” Lena huffed as Kara chuckled into her shoulder.

“Feels good?” Kara asked, though she very well knew the answer.

“Feels amazing,” Lena groaned as Kara continued teasing her breasts with one hand while the other began to trail down lower. “Oh God, oh, oh— Kara! Kara, wait!”

Kara froze, one hand tight against Lena’s chest, the other poised just above the dark curls at the apex of her thighs. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Should we… I mean… What about the eggs?” Lena asked breathily.

“What about them?”

“Well, I mean, they’re _right there_,” Lena whispered. “Should we really be doing this with them so close? We’re not going to traumatize them or anything?”

For a moment Kara was still as stone behind her, and then she let out a loud laugh and her body shook so hard that water splashed between them.

“Don’t laugh at me!” Lena exclaimed.

“I’m sorry,” Kara said, though her voice was still thick with mirth. “It’s just… Lena, they’re _eggs_!”

“I know that, but they’re also our babies and I didn’t know!”

“Don’t worry, we’re not going to traumatize our children with our sexcapades,” Kara said, pressing a kiss to the hollow beneath Lena’s ear. “At least not until they’re teenagers. We’re safe for now.”

“You’re sure?” Lena asked.

“Positive,” Kara assured her. “Now, where were we?”

Before Lena could formulate a response, Kara had resumed her earlier ministrations with doubled effort. She nipped and sucked at the sensitive skin of Lena’s neck while one hand teased at her breasts and the other explored between her thighs.

“_Rao_, you’re wetter than the bath water,” Kara sighed as her fingers circled Lena’s clit.

Lena wanted to respond, wanted to tell Kara that it was all because of her. That after more than two years Kara still made her wet, that even if one hundred years passed Lena was convinced that she would still want Kara. But her mouth couldn’t form words, only moans and gasps as Kara pushed her higher and higher, her body arching and pressing into each touch like a bow string ready to be launched.

Without warning Kara’s hand left Lena’s breasts and the other stopped circling her clit. A pleading sob escaped Lena’s throat without her consent as her body quivered against Kara’s, seeking more contact.

“Put your hands on the side of the tub,” Kara ordered, and Lena fought to obey even as her body begged for more contact.

“Ka— Oh!” Lena exclaimed as two fingers pressed lower and entered her in one swift motion. Kara’s other hand had dropped down to press into Lena’s lower stomach as her fingers began thrusting inside. With every stroke her palm dragged over Lena’s clit and her fingertips pressed into the sweet spot inside of her that made stars explode behind Lena’s eyelids.

“_So beautiful_,” Kara growled in Kryptonese beside Lena’s ear, the low vocalizations sending shockwaves through Lena’s body. “_So perfect, my love. Let go for me, Lena. Come for me_.”

Kara’s words flipped a switch in Lena’s body, sending her plummeting over the edge into bliss. Her hands gripped the sides of the tub until her knuckles ached as white hot pleasure spread from her core out through her limbs to the very tips of her toes and the ends of her fingers. Finally her body collapsed back into Kara’s, chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath, every muscle shaking as Kara slowly stroked the aftershocks from her core. Finally Kara stilled and withdrew her hand, pressing soft kisses to the side of Lena’s head.

“_I love you_,” she said in Kryptonese, then switched to English. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, but I think you’ve broken me,” Lena sighed. She turned awkwardly in Kara’s arms, sloshing more water over the sides of the tub, and kissed her lips. “Take me to bed, Supergirl.”

Kara was happy to oblige. Even with the red sun lamp she was able to scoop Lena from the tub and place her gently on the stool beside the vanity. She closed the lamp and dried herself off quickly and then gently toweled Lena’s skin until it was silky smooth. Then she carried a boneless Lena to bed, followed quickly by placing the eggs on the bedside table, and disappeared back into the bathroom to empty the tub.

Lena hummed as her body slowly began to come back under her control, still warm with the aftereffects of a powerful orgasm. She quickly pushed the covers down to the end of the bed, flipped on the overhead red sun lamp she had permanently installed in their bedroom, let her hair down around her shoulders and assumed what she thought was a seductive pose against the pillows.

When Kara emerged from the bathroom, however, Lena was both confused and disappointed to see that she was already fully dressed in her most conservative flannel pajamas. Her cheeks blushed bright red when she saw Lena, a stark contrast to the woman who had ordered Lena to come not ten minutes earlier. She made her way quickly to the bed and pulled the sheets over both of them, switching off the lamp before pulling Lena into a tight embrace. Lena could feel Kara trying and failing to relax beside her as her naked skin pressed into hot flannel. She pushed at Kara’s arms until her hold loosened and she could turn to face her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked softly.

“Nothing,” Kara answered, a little too quickly. She looked down, away from Lena’s eyes, but that brought her gaze to Lena’s bare chest and even in the dark Lena could see her cheeks flush again.

“Okay then,” Lena said softly, playing along. She pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Kara’s mouth and reached up between them to the buttons on Kara’s pajama top, unfastening the top button and then the second before Kara’s hands gripped her wrists, stopping her. She pulled back to look into shy blue eyes. “What?”

“Not tonight,” Kara said, shaking her head. “Tonight was about you.”

“But I want to touch you.” Lena didn’t consider herself a top by any stretch of the imagination. And if either of them had been keeping track, she was sure that in the span of their relationship Kara had probably given her more orgasms than she had given Kara, just by nature of who Kara was as a person and Lena’s ability to have multiple orgasms. But that didn’t mean Lena didn’t try to reciprocate whenever they were intimate, or that she didn’t love seeing Kara lose herself in release, knowing she was the one who brought her over the edge. And right now she wanted nothing more than to bring Kara to that point, to show her pleasure like she had given Lena in the bath.

“Not tonight,” Kara repeated, still unwilling to meet Lena’s gaze.

“Why?” Lena asked. Kara shrugged, or something close to a shrug as she was lying down. “Kara…”

“I’m just… nervous. Afraid,” Kara admitted finally.

“Afraid of what?”

Kara’s fingers traced against Lena’s absentmindedly. “Afraid that things will be different. Feel different.”

Realization hit Lena like a Mack truck and her eyes widened. “Oh. But you’re healed, right? You used the sunlamp and it’s been three weeks...”

“Yeah, I’m healed but it was… a lot. I’m just afraid that things might be different or feel different or I might not even be able to, you know…”

Lena pulled Kara’s hands to her face and kissed her knuckles softly, then looked up and pressed a kiss to her forehead, and then to each cheek.

“Oh, my love,” she whispered. “It’s okay. Do you remember when we first started dating?”

“Fondly,” Kara replied with a grin, and Lena smiled back.

“And when we first started being intimate we had to learn each other’s bodies,” Lena continued. “We had to learn how to touch each other, what each of us liked and didn’t like. And if things are different for you now, we can do that again.”

“You don’t mind?” Kara asked shyly.

“Of course not,” Lena assured her. “You’re my wife, my love. And you’re a fucking goddess, Kara, exploring your body is never a chore, believe me.”

Kara turned red again, and Lena couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss her cheek again.

“If you don’t want to try tonight, that’s okay,” Lena assured her. “But whenever you do, I’m ready and willing.”

Kara bit her lip and looked down between them, eyes skimming over Lena’s bare stomach and chest, up to where her dark hair was loose around her shoulders. She turned away quickly and pressed the switch on the bedside table, bathing the room in a reddish glow. She looked back at Lena with nervous eyes.

“Just go slow, please,” she said softly.

Lena smiled and pressed Kara back into the mattress. She moved to straddle her waist, preening under Kara’s gaze as she shook her hair back over her shoulders.

“Tell me if anything doesn’t feel good,” she said as she reached for the buttons of Kara’s pajama top. “Green is good, yellow means slow down, red means stop. Okay?”

“Okay,” Kara breathed as Lena parted the flannel top.

Lena bent and kissed Kara deeply, pressing her tongue deep into the cavern of her mouth. Kara still tasted faintly of the wine they’d had with dinner, and minty toothpaste, and something delicious that was unique to Kara. She made love to her mouth as her hands skimmed up Kara’s abs, the muscles clenching beneath her touch, up to cup her breasts. Unlike Lena, Kara’s nipples weren’t particularly sensitive, but stroking the sides made her shiver and a deep purr sounded from her throat.

Lena pulled back. “Color?”

“Green,” Kara gasped as Lena trailed her lips across her cheek, nipping at her earlobe before kissing down the corded muscles of her neck and down her chest. She peppered kisses across Kara’s breasts as she pushed the flannel further off her shoulders. Kara leaned up and wriggled loose from the fabric, golden curls falling loose across broad shoulders. Lena sat back and admired her wife for a moment.

“God, you’re gorgeous,” she murmured, pressing another kiss to Kara’s lips before pushing her back down to the bed. She moved lower, kissing her way across Kara’s abdominals, until she came to the waistband of her pajamas. She slipped one hand beneath the drawstring, beneath the elastic of Kara’s underwear, and found bare skin that was hot and dripping wet.

“Lena,” Kara groaned in frustration at the soft touches.

“Oh, darling, you were going to ignore this?” Lena said, pulling her hand free. Wetness clung to the ends of her fingers, glistening in the red light. With Kara’s eyes on her, Lena brought her fingers to her mouth and sucked them clean, tasting Kara’s salty-sweet flavor. Kara groaned again and her head fell back into the pillows. Lena grasped the waistband of her pajamas. “Color?”

“Green, so green,” Kara gasped, raising her hips so Lena could easily rid her of her remaining clothes.

Lena’s eyes zeroed in on the flesh between Kara’s legs. She was naturally bare there— Kryptonians had no body hair, other than the filoplume-like hair that grew on their heads— her vulva small and usually less pronounced than a human’s until she was aroused, as she was now. Now Kara’s folds were swollen and red, darker than a human’s, and glistening with her arousal. She didn’t have a clit, but instead the entire length of her sex was a spongy ridge that was extremely sensitive to touch.

“Still green?” Lena asked as she lowered her head.

“Yes, green, please, Lena,” Kara begged, fisting the sheets at her sides.

At the first touch of Lena’s tongue against her, Kara’s entire body shuddered. Lena wrapped one arm around her hips, holding her in place, as her tongue alternated long strokes and quick flicks against the spongy ridge of Kara’s sex. Her other hand weaved between them, gently massaging Kara’s opening.

Lena pulled her head back slightly. “Tell me if anything doesn’t feel right, okay?”

With that she gently pushed two fingers into Kara’s tight heat.

The sound Kara made wasn’t quite human, but Lena had been with her enough times to know that it wasn’t a sound of pain. One of Kara’s hands left the bedsheet and tangled in Lena’s hair, pushing her face back toward her sex. Lena obliged happily, opening her mouth so Kara could grind into her tongue as she began to thrust her fingers in and out.

Apparently Kara’s body hadn’t changed much if at all in the healing process, so Lena fell back on her knowledge of what she knew made Kara lose control every time. She released Kara’s hips and added a finger of her second hand, this one massaging the back of Kara’s opening as her other two fingers continued to thrust. She listened as Kara’s cries became higher and louder, felt the thrusting of her hips become more and more uneven, and finally just as she reached her crescendo Lena flexed her fingers, stretching the ring of muscles there the way, according to Kara, a Kryptonian cock would expand upon climax.

Kara was the most still Lena had ever seen her when she orgasmed. Her body arched up away from the bed and froze there, every muscle taut with exertion, but the muscles around Lena’s fingers flexed and quivered as more liquid heat flowed from Kara’s core. After a long moment she collapsed back onto the bed and her entire body trembled as movement returned to her muscles.

Lena climbed Kara’s body quickly, knowing in these moments that she needed physical closeness. Kara’s orgasms gave her immeasurable pleasure, but left her feeling incredibly vulnerable afterword. Lena draped her body over Kara’s, so the pressure would calm her, and reached to turn off the red sunlamps. Kara wrapped her arms around Lena’s waist and after several long moments, bathed in darkness, her body stopped trembling and her breathing returned to normal. She breathed deeply against Lena’s hair and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Lena looked up at her, resting her chin against her sternum.

“Hi,” Kara whispered in the darkness.

“Hi yourself,” Lena said softly. “So, how was it? Any different?”

Kara shook her head. “No, not at all. My super healing definitely worked.”

“Lois will be jealous. She said she couldn’t stand for Clark to touch her for months after Jonathan was born,” Lena said speculatively.

“Could we not talk about Lois and Clark right after I’ve had an orgasm?” Kara asked.

Lena chuckled. “Point taken.”

Kara turned them until they were in their regular sleeping position, beside each other but not quite cuddled— Kara produced far too much body heat in her sleep, and if they cuddled Lena would wake up a sweaty mess— legs bumping beneath the covers, hands intertwined beneath the pillows.

“Lena?” Kara breathed as they began to drift off.

“Mmhmm?” Lena mumbled.

“Thank you. I love you.”

Lena smiled into the pillow. “I love you, too.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after.  
Lena tells Sam.  
Danger on the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this update took forever and I’m sorry but the muses were not cooperating and life has been CRAZY. For some reason this was a really hard chapter to write and I’m still not 100% happy with how it turned out, but the story’s moving along. Hopefully 6800 words make up for the hiatus.
> 
> Some other info for this chapter:  
Samantha Arias is an amazing character and should’ve been given permanent superpowers.  
I’m writing this with the idea that pretty much everything in canon has happened to this point with just a few minor tweaks and ignoring Lena’s possible villainous spiral she’s currently on.

Mornings had never been Lena’s favorite time of day. As CEO she had a schedule to maintain, particularly now that she had scheduled all of her meetings before lunch, but if Lena had her way she would spend her mornings in bed, curled up beside her wife.

This morning was no different. Lena’s alarm sounded and she silenced it with a groan before burying her face into her pillow. She stretched an arm across the bed but only found empty sheets, which caused her to huff in frustration. A soft giggle pulled her from her sleepy grumbles, so she blearily turned her head toward the sound.

Kara was sitting cross-legged on the floor, facing the rising sun outside the large windows. She was still blessedly naked from the night before, her golden skin practically glowing as she soaked up solar radiation, and Lena was once again very glad she had installed specialized windows which allowed sunlight in while blocking anyone from seeing into the bedroom. Unlike Lena, Kara was usually up with the sun, and if Lena wasn't awake to cuddle she would take the time to practice Kryptonian meditation, speaking low prayers in Kryptonese while she centered her mind. Lena found it both fascinating and endearing.

Lena pushed the covers back and crossed the floor to where Kara was sitting. Her wife was silent, which meant her prayers were finished, so Lena sat close behind her, pressing her naked front against the strong muscles of Kara’s back. She wrapped her arms around Kara’s middle and pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder before resting her chin there. Kara chuckled and moved her own arms over Lena’s, holding her in place.

“Good morning, spidermonkey,” she teased.

“Good morning,” Lena replied, her voice rough with sleep. “How are you feeling?”

“Wonderful,” Kara said brightly. “How about you?”

“Hmm, I can’t complain,” Lena said nonchalantly. “My beautiful wife cooked me a delicious dinner that we ate by candlelight, I had a relaxing bath with a _very_ satisfying ending, and I made love to the sexiest woman I’ve ever met. So all in all, I had a wonderful date.”

Kara turned to face her, pulling Lena into her lap. “That good, huh?”

“Very good,” Lena said, pressing a soft kiss to Kara’s cheek. “Thank you for the date night.”

Kara kissed Lena’s lips softly. “You’re welcome.”

They kissed softly, content to just enjoy each little caress without any need to build to more. It was a kind of intimacy Lena had never had before Kara, the ability to just enjoy little touches, little moments without any expectations.

“Promise me something,” she said between kisses. “Promise me that we’ll still have date nights and mornings like this when the babies are here. I know it’ll be difficult, and rare, but I don’t want to lose this… us.”

“I promise,” Kara assured her. “Things will change, we will change, but no matter what happens we’ll always have each other, and we should always take time for that. I want more date nights with you, even if it means we have to bribe Alex and Kelly or Brainy and Nia into babysitting.”

Lena couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of Brainy and Nia babysitting. She pressed another giggling kiss to her wife’s lips.

“I love you,” she murmured. They stayed like that until another alarm sounded and Lena groaned into Kara’s neck. “I have to get ready for work.”

“I can make you breakfast,” Kara volunteered.

“My hero,” Lena joked, pressing one last kiss to Kara’s lips before slipping free of her arms and heading to the bathroom.

An hour later, Lena emerged from the bedroom polished and ready for work, save applying her lipstick. She had learned quickly after moving in with Kara that it was less wasteful to apply that in the car on her way to the office. Kara was in the kitchen, dressed in her pajama bottoms and a well-worn National City University hoodie. The eggs rested in their basket on the end of the counter.

“I thought you might like something a little sweet this morning,” Kara said brightly, holding a plate toward Lena. “One bagel with cream cheese and strawberry jam.”

“Thank you,” she replied, kissing Kara’s cheek as she took her plate and sat at the island. “So what’s on the agenda for today?”

“I’m doing some research for an article on women in law enforcement, then lunch with you, then we have a staff meeting at CatCo and I’ll be typing all afternoon unless there’s a Supergirl emergency,” Kara listed off between bites of her own breakfast. “How about you?”

“I’ve got meetings with two investors this morning and a walkthrough in the labs to discuss new projects with the head of R&D. After lunch I have a teleconference with the CDC in Atlanta about a new antiviral drug,” Lena replied. “Oh, and Sam is flying in from Metropolis to discuss her taking on some of my workload during my maternity leave.”

“WHAT?” Kara exclaimed so suddenly that Lena nearly spilled her coffee. “Sam’s coming? And you didn’t tell me? Is she bringing Ruby?”

Lena chuckled at her wife’s excitement. “Not this time, Ruby has exams. But if you’re free, you can drop in. I know Sam would love to see you too.”

“I definitely will.” Kara was practically vibrating with excitement. Lena wondered briefly if she had absorbed too much solar energy that morning, or if she had eaten too much sugar. “Wait, have you told her about the eggs yet?”

“Nope, and I swore Clark and Lois to secrecy as well,” she replied. “I thought it was better to tell her in person.”

“Oh, then I’ll definitely be there,” Kara said mischievously. “Don’t wanna miss that show.”

*****

Kara was not there for “the show”. She dropped off the eggs and lunch for Lena (and Jess) with a blur of her cape, a quick kiss to Lena’s cheek, and something about a call from Alex before she jettisoned off Lena’s balcony not even ten seconds after entering. Lena just shook her head and took one to-go box to her secretary.

“I’m assuming the turkey club on rye is for you,” she told Jess.

“Hmm, tell Kara I said thank you,” Jess said, rubbing her hands together in delight. “No offense, Miss Luthor, but if you weren’t already married to her, I would marry that woman.”

Lena laughed. “None taken, but I think Danny would have something to say about that.”

Jess blushed at the mention of her boyfriend in accounting. Lena chuckled to herself as she walked back into her office. She sat aside her own lunch for a moment as she unzipped the eggs from their carrier, placing them safely behind her desk before softly caressing each curved gold shell.

“How are we today, babies?” she asked. “Did you have a good morning with _Jeju?_” (They had decided Kara would be _Jeju_, the Kryptonian pet name for mothers, and Lena would be Mama.) “Mama has a meeting with your Auntie Samantha later. You’ll like her, I’m sure, and she’s going to love you, well, after the shock wears off. And I know Ruby will adore you.”

Lena shook her head again. She often talked to herself out loud when she was working alone, and now that she had the eggs in her office she often found herself talking to them. She still didn’t know if they could actually hear her— she had researched human fetal development to see when they could hear sounds, but she had no idea how that correlated to Kryptonian fetuses— but that didn’t stop her. It helped cement in her mind that there were actual babies in there, made her bond with them stronger even though they couldn’t respond to her words.

Lena had barely finished her salad when her telephone began ringing. She held one of the eggs in her lap and absentmindedly traced swirls across its surface as she discussed L-Corp’s new antiviral medication with a research physician and director of acquisitions with the CDC. Once that was done she tucked the egg back into the carrier and tucked them behind her desk in preparation for Sam’s arrival.

“Miss Luthor?” Jess’s voice sounded from the intercom. “Samantha Arias is here for you.”

A broad smile spread across Lena’s face. “Please send her in.”

Lena was able to maintain her stoic business expression for all of half a second once Sam was in her office. Sam offered her a wide smile and opened her arms, and Lena didn’t hesitate to cross the office and pull her old friend into a tight hug.

“You are a sight for sore eyes!” Lena exclaimed.

“Well they wouldn’t be so sore if you’d visit Metropolis sometime,” Sam scoffed. “But I guess you’re too busy being married to do that. Are you still in the honeymoon phase? Do you and Kara still look at each other with big lovestruck eyes?”

Lena snorted. “We do not.”

“Bullshit,” Sam rebuked. “You two looked at each other like that even before you were dating. Best friends my ass.”

“I’m going to ignore you cursing during a business meeting because you’re one of my oldest friends,” Lena told her.

“Oh, yeah, about that business meeting.” Sam made air quotes as she spoke. “I get an email out of nowhere, not from you but from your assistant, saying you’re gonna need me to cover for your maternity leave. Maternity leave, Lena? When did you and Kara decide to have a baby? And why did you not tell one of your oldest friends until a month before the baby’s due?”

“Well, it was a little unexpected,” Lena said softly, a bit chagrined. She had wanted to tell Sam, but she wanted to do so in person.

“Lena, it’s not exactly an unplanned pregnancy. You’re two women using a surrogate, according to Jess. I’m pretty sure that takes a lot of planning and forethought,” Sam said with an arched brow.

Lena threaded her fingers together atop her desk. “Well… that’s not exactly what happened.”

Sam’s face rapidly shifted from teasing to confused, her brow furrowing. “Huh?”

“The surrogate story is what we’re telling the public,” Lena explained. “But it is kind of an unplanned pregnancy. But… without the pregnancy. Kara… Kara laid eggs.”

Sam’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “WHAT? No! You can’t be serious!”

“Serious as a heart attack,” Lena said, reaching down and pulling the egg carrier from beneath her desk so Sam could see them.

“You… Those are…” Sam gaped at the sight. “But _how_?”

“Apparently Kryptonians laid eggs before they started using a machine called the Birthing Matrix to create and gestate babies,” Lena explained. “Kal-El was the first Kryptonian in centuries born or, rather, hatched naturally. Biological sex of the parents didn’t matter either, apparently. Kara didn’t know it was possible, especially with a human, but about a month ago this… happened. And the incubation period is only a little over two months. I wanted to tell you in person, because I knew you would freak out—“

“‘M not freaking out,” Sam said quickly, clearly freaking out. “But, wait, I’m part Kryptonian and Ruby didn’t hatch from an egg, she was born like a human.”

“Kara’s theory is that it’s because your Kryptonian DNA was dormant at the time, so your reproductive system and Ruby’s development were all human,” Lena explained.

“What about now?” Sam asked.

Lena shrugged. “I’m not sure. Alex might be able to do a scan, compare your reproductive organs to Kara’s and to a regular human’s.”

“I might lay eggs,” Sam said with wide eyes. “Oh shit. Holy shit! What do I tell Derek?”

“Wait, who’s Derek?” Lena exclaimed.

That’s how Lena found out that she wasn’t the only one who had news they wanted to share in person. Derek, it turns out, had been Ruby’s freshman English teacher. He was a widower with a young son, Aiden, and he and Sam had hit it off, much to Ruby’s horror. They had been dating for a little over six months, and according to Sam things were looking good.

“Is pulling you away for three months to cover my maternity leave going to strain the relationship?” Lena asked seriously.

“Maybe a little,” Sam admitted. “But it is summer break. He and Aiden can visit. And maybe it’s the test we need. If we can survive long distance for a few months, it says a lot for our relationship. But he’s a really great guy, and he understands what I do so… I’m honestly not that worried.”

“Good, because I need you,” Lena admitted. “I don’t trust anybody else to take them helm at L-Corp while I’m gone. And I also need a friend because I’m going to be a mom in a little over a month and I’m kind of freaking out here. Just ask Kara and Alex. Call me selfish, but I need someone outside of my usual bubble of craziness to lean on for a bit.”

Sam reached across the desk and pulled Lena’s hands into hers. “I’m right here. You’ve done so much for me, Lena, and you’re one of my best friends. I’ll be here until I hear those babies cry, and after, no worries.”

“Thank you,” Lena said earnestly.

Sam grinned. “Don’t thank me yet. I’m bringing Ruby with me, and all of her sixteen-year-old attitude. After some time with her you’ll be inventing something to prevent your own children from going through puberty, I guarantee it.”

Lena chuckled. “I might already be plotting something like th—“

Before Lena could finish her thought the doors to her office burst open and a wide-eyed Jess caught her gaze.

“Miss Luthor, you don’t have your television on?” she asked.

“No, we were just—“

Jess hurried across the room and pressed the power button on Lena’s wall-mounted television. An emergency news broadcast filled the screen, showing live footage from a helicopter.

Live footage of Supergirl.

“Kara,” Lena muttered, rising from her desk and stepping toward the screen without thought.

Kara was fighting… something. The dark shape was fast, and so was Kara, they zipped through the air around the city buildings as little more than blurs. Suddenly the dark shape stopped and burst into a flare of red light and Kara turned away, dropping rapidly from the sky before righting herself. In that moment Lena could make out the dark shape, its mechanical features eerily familiar in a way that made her blood run cold.

_It couldn’t be…_

Kara flew into the robot, throwing her weight and propulsion into it to send both of them barreling toward the street below. There was another burst of red light and the machine swirled, reversing their positions. Kara fell from the sky, bathed in the red light, and Lena caught a glimpse of her grainy, terrified face on the screen. That was when she realized what the red light was.

“Oh god,” she breathed. “Kara!”

Another blue blur joined the fray and Lena realized Superman had flown in to help his cousin. That alone told her this fight had been going on for a while. Superman knocked the robot back into the sky but Supergirl still crashed to the ground, her dense body making a crater in the concrete. The camera panned away from her to focus on the fight.

“No! Dammit! Go back!” Lena shouted.

“I’m gonna go help,” Sam said, her voice stoic.

“Are you sure?” Lena asked, though her heart wanted to send all the help she could to her wife.

“Clark’s been training me,” Sam shrugged. “And it would be a waste to not go when you spent so much time on the suit.

She reached up to the necklace she wore, which looked like an unassuming oversized locket, and pressed her thumb against the surface. Suddenly Sam’s business attire seemed to melt away, replaced instead by a purple and crimson bodysuit— Ruby had picked the colors— and a red cape. The House of El sigil stood our proudly on her chest— Kara and Kal had made her an honorary member when it became clear that her Kryptonian DNA had not become entirely dormant after Reign was banished.

“There’s a red sunlight emitter in its chest,” Lena told her. “It neutralizes Kryptonian powers. So try not to get close.”

“Noted,” Sam said, placing a mask over her eyes and heading for the balcony.

“Be careful, Superwoman,” Lena told her.

“I’ll take care of your girl,” Sam assured her before opening the door and taking flight.

Lena turned her gaze back to the television. Kara was up off the ground, but Lena knew her well enough to know that she wasn’t at one hundred percent. Her expression was taut, and there was blood dried across her forehead and on her hands. Her movements lacked her usual grace and full speed. She and Superman were circling the mechanical figure, staying just far enough away to avoid the red sun emitter it was using, but Lena knew that strategy would only stall the thing. At some point, someone would have to be the aggressor and make a move.

Sam joined them only moments later. The news broadcasters exclaimed excitedly over yet another unknown Super joining the fight, but Lena blocked out their conversation. She could see the three superheroes’ lips moving on screen, but the news cameras couldn’t pick up what they were saying. She knew the three of them well enough to know they were probably making a plan on how to take down their mechanical foe, and from the expressions on Superman and Superwoman’s faces, they didn’t like it.

The three superheroes divided, flying in opposite directions around their enemy. The robot turned rapidly, but it couldn’t seem to keep up with all three. Lena watched as Superman came at the robot from the right and Superwoman from the left, each grabbing an arm and pulling it tight. The robot didn’t rip in two, as Lena had been hoping, but she could see the sides of a chest plate exposed, just beside the red sun emitter. While Superman and Superwoman held the arms in place, Kara swept in from below and blasted around the chest place with her heat vision before reaching forward to pull at the superheated metal with her hands.

Three things happened so quickly that they might as well have been simultaneous. The red sun emitter in the robot’s chest glowed intensely just as the chest plate came undone, and as the metal was thrown to the side and Kara began to plummet from the sky, having absorbed all of the red solar radiation, and the rest of the machine exploded in a cloud of green that filled the air. All three Kryptonians fell back and began to fall toward the ground as the Kryptonite hit their systems. Sam was the first to recover, her resistance to Kryptonite still quite strong, and she quickly pulled Kara’s body into her arms. Superman recovered himself a few feet lower, pulling up before crashing to the ground, and flying back toward where Sam hovered carrying Kara’s limp body.

“I have to get to the DEO,” Lena said quickly. “Jess—“

“I’ll have your car meet you at the doors,” her assistant said quickly as Lena made her way out of the office. “Miss Lu—‘

“Not now, Jess, I have to go. Cancel ev—“

“The eggs, Miss Luthor.”

Lena froze mid-step as her blood chilled in her veins. She turned to see Jess zipping the carrier and running hurrying toward her. Her assistant helped her pull the straps over her shoulders and Lena realized her hands were shaking.

“Jess?”

“Yes, Miss Luthor?”

Lena swallowed hard. “Don’t ever tell Kara that I almost forgot them.”

“Yes, Miss Luthor,” Jess nodded.

*****

The DEO was a whirlwind of activity when Lena entered. She knew her way around well enough at this point that she sped past frantic agents and headed toward the medical bays.

“Superman? Superwoman? Alex!” she shouted as she made her way down the hallways. “I need to see Director Danvers!”

“Lena!”

Alex emerged from one of the bays and Lena ran to her. She made to push past her, knowing Kara must be in the room she came out of, but Alex caught her by the shoulders and held her firm.

“They medical team is working on her,” Alex told her, voice soft but reassuring. “Being exposed to Kryptonite under red sunlight is doing a lot of damage. They’re getting a blood transfusion from Clark and putting her under the strongest regular sunlamps we have. If you get close to them, you’ll get sunburn, not to mention skin cancer later on.”

“I don’t care, I need to see her,” Lena demanded, pushing forward, but Alex stool firm. “Alex, please…”

“I know, but… Just give them a few minutes,” Alex said grimly.

“It’s that bad?” Lena asked softly.

Alex nodded. “Yes and… while they clean her up, I need to know everything you know about red sun emitters.”

Lena looked up sharply. “What do you mean?”

Alex sighed. “Look, I know you and Kara use them… recreationally… and I understand why. I don’t blame you, and I know it makes Kara happy, so…”

“Get to it, Agent Danvers.”

“Is there any way someone could’ve gotten one of your emitters?” Alex asked.

Lena shook her head. “Impossible. All of the emitters are accounted for in our home and in my office.”

“You have one in your… You know what, not now,” Alex said, shaking her own head to rid herself of that mental image. “What about the schematics?”

“All physical and digital copies were deleted,” Lena said.

“How would you build another?” Alex asked.

“Eidetic memory,” Lena answered simply.

“Well that’s… handy. And there’s nobody else who would know how to build one?”

“Not that I know of,” Lena replied, then added under her breath, “at least nobody alive.”

“What?”

Before Lena could reply, a short woman with scrubs over her DEO-issued uniform tapped Alex on the shoulder.

“Director, we’ve got her stabilized and comfortable,” the woman said.

Alex sighed and set her shoulders. Lena stood a little straighter in response, steeling herself for what she was about to see, and followed her sister-in-law into the medical bay.

There were three beds inside. Sam was reclined on the farthest bed, beneath a sun lamp, and she gave a small wave as they entered. Clark was in the next bed, also beneath a sun lamp, a cell phone pressed to his ear.

_“Yes, Lois, I’m alright, I promise. You don’t need to fly out. I’ll be home tonight… Okay… Okay, I’ll stay until Kara’s condition improves. Okay…”_

Kara was in the bed closest to the door. She was still, her blonde hair damp and laid out on the crinkly white pillowcase. Her skin looked faintly green, even beneath the intense sun lamps. The doctors had stripped her Supergirl suit off, leaving her only in shorts and a sports bra, so she had more skin bare to absorb the solar radiation.

“There’s still Kryptonite in her system?” Lena asked.

“We’re hoping that giving her Superman’s blood will speed the blood purification process,” the doctor said. “The Kryptonite was in aerosol form, so it entered her system rapidly, and since she was under the effects of red solar radiation, her body couldn’t combat it. Her powers still haven’t recovered. Hopefully once her powers return, her body will purge the Kryptonite from her system.”

“You used the word _hope_ a lot in that explanation, doctor,” Lena said, her voice low and sharp. “In my experience that’s not a word medical professionals use when they’re certain of things.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Luthor, but she has never been exposed to Kryptonite like this,” the doctor explained. “We have nothing to compare it to. I won’t sugarcoat it, she’s in bad shape, and if her powers don’t return, the Kryptonite will cause her body to fail.”

Lena swallowed hard. “Thank you for your honesty, doctor.”

The doctor nodded and looked toward Alex. “Let me know if anything changes, Director Danvers.”

“Of course, Dr. Hamilton,” Alex agreed.

Lena stepped closer to the bed. She resisted the urge to push Kara’s bangs off her sweaty forehead, but she knew reaching beneath the sun lamp would leave her with an extremely painful sunburn. Suddenly her thoughts turned and she ripped the carrier from her shoulders. She unzipped the bag and pulled first one egg and then the other from its confines, carefully placing each egg against Kara’s sides.

“There, now she can feel them,” Lena said, nodding to reassure herself.

“Lena, she’s unconscious,” Alex said softly. “She can’t feel…”

“Yes she can,” Lena argued. “She’s not— Wait, you don’t know?”

Lena glanced at Clark, and he shook his head.

“What?” Alex asked.

“I’m sorry, I thought you knew…” Lena murmured.

“What do I not know, Lena?” Alex demanded.

“When we’re affected by Kryptonite, it doesn’t render us unconscious,” Clark explained. “It looks like we are from the outside, because we’re unresponsive, but our minds are fully aware. We can still feel the pain from the Kryptonite, even like Kara is now.”

“So…”

“Like her skin is being seared off her bones and nails are running through her blood,” Lena murmured. Supergirl’s words had been etched into her mind since before she even knew her true identity, and since then she had done everything in her power to protect Kara from feeling that pain ever again. Yet here she was, powerless as her wife was a prisoner within her own body, being tortured by something Lena couldn’t fight against.

Alex’s face was ashen as she looked between Lena and Clark and Kara’s still form. Lena wasn’t really surprised Kara had never told Alex this bit of information, she had only told Lena under duress. It was easier to think Kara was sleeping as peacefully as she appeared. Knowing what she was feeling made Lena’s stomach turn, and it appeared to be having the same effect on Alex.

“You said nobody alive knows how to make red sun emitters,” Alex said suddenly. “What did you mean?”

Lena sighed. “I didn’t completely invent the red sun emitters on my own merit. I used Lex’s notes on Kryptonians and lamps he had invented for more nefarious purposes to create mine. But I tweaked the design. Where Lex’s lamps would render a Kryptonian completely powerless and affect them for hours afterward, my lamps leave Kara with some invulnerability and increased strength, and she can recover from their use in about an hour with regular sunlight, ten minutes or less with a sun lamp. I wanted to make it safe to be with her, but not weaken her to the point of making her vulnerable to attack.”

“So you and Lex were the only people who could make them?” Alex asked. “Nobody else? Not one of Lex’s cronies or something?”

“Lex was insanely private about his Kryptonian research,” Lena told her. “He was a narcissist. If anyone was going to defeat a Kryptonian, it was going to be him. He wouldn’t share research on this with anyone, and he would’ve done the work himself. And anyone else trying to make one from scratch would have to study Kryptonians extensively to get it right, and as far as I know none of our resident Kryptonians have allowed anyone else to experiment on them.”

“Lena, you’re leaving me with two impossible possibilities,” Alex said, rubbing her temples. “You’re telling me that all of your emitters are accounted for and that there’s no possible way anyone could’ve recreated them. And the only other person who could’ve possibly made something similar is Lex Luthor and he’s been dead for over two years. Unless Lex faked his death—“

“He didn’t,” Lena hissed.

“We never recovered a body,” Alex said speculatively. “The remains of his exosuit were too damaged, the inside burned to a crisp, so it’s possible—“

“No, it’s not,” Lena practically shouted, walking to Kara’s bedside. “Lex is dead. I know it.”

“Lena, I know it’s scary to think about, but it’s the only possibility that makes sense,” Alex argued.

“No! No it doesn’t!” Lena shouted. “It doesn’t make sense because Lex is dead! I know he’s dead because I was there, I put the bullets in his chest myself, I watched him die. He’s _dead_.”

The room was silent save for the soft buzz of the sunlamps and beeping monitors recording Kara’s heart rate. Lena crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Kara, unable and unwilling to meet the three gazes she could feel burning into her.

“Lex had a transmatter portal built into his watch,” she explained. “I knew he wouldn’t give up easily, and I had a hunch where he would go, so I went to one of the old Luthor summer homes in the mountains. When he came out of the portal I confronted him. He said I didn’t have it in me. He was wrong.” She reached up and wiped a stray tear from her cheek, but she wasn’t crying for Lex. “He would’ve never stopped, you know. He intended to kill Kara, to kill Clark, even destroy Argo. None of us would’ve been safe. So I… I did what I had to do.”

A hand on her shoulder startled her. Superman was out of his bed, looking at her with sad but understanding eyes, his expression so similar to Kara’s.

“Does Kara know?” he asked.

Lena nodded. “I told her. There are no secrets between us anymore.”

Kara knew. Kara knew that and more. She reminded Lena sometimes, when she spiraled into depression and guilt over what she had done, that Lena had done it to protect the people she loved, and that was certainly part of it. But Lena knew her own mind well enough to know that that wasn’t all of it. Killing Lex hadn’t been a selfless act. She had been angry and hurt by Lex’s most recent betrayal, and she had also wanted a life free from looking over her shoulder for the latest assassin her brother sent after her. Kara knew all that, saw it all without Lena even having to say it all, and she still loved her.

Clark nodded, and Lena thought perhaps he knew it all, too. Perhaps that was another Kryptonian superpower, seeing into her soul.

“This conversation never leaves this room,” Alex said, her voice little more than a whisper. “Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Clark and Sam said simultaneously.

Lena stepped away from Clark and walked closer to Kara’s bedside. She wanted to touch her, wanted to comfort her somehow, but she couldn’t. She decided right then that uselessness was the most abhorrent feeling in the world.

“Could I… Could you guys give me a few minutes?” she asked softly.

“Sure,” Alex said. “We’ll be right outside, so holler if you need us. Take all the time you need.”

They padded from the room silently, and Sam gave Lena a light hug before stepping out. Lena stood over Kara, arms wrapped around her own waist and squeezing until her upper arms were sure to be bruised.

“You just had to be the hero today, didn’t you?” she murmured. “Not that I’m surprised. You always take the riskiest jobs in missions. And that’s fine when you’re going up against bullets and you’re bulletproof, but not when you’re going up against something that can actually hurt you.” 

Lena sighed. She risked a slight burn to trail her fingertips down Kara’s arm. “You promised me you would always fight to come back to me. Do you remember that? It was in our vows. So I’m gonna need you to come back to me this time, Kara. Come back to me and our babies. They’re right here with us, waiting for you to wake up.”

Lena ran her hand down, until she came to where one egg was tucked into Kara’s side. “Don’t you dare leave me to raise two half-Kryptonians alone, Kara Zor-El Luthor-Danvers. I can’t do this without you. These babies need their _Jeju_ and I… I need my wife, my best friend. I love you.”

Before she could stop them, sobs began to rack her body. Lena collapsed to the floor, hands gripping the metal railing of the bed as her knees hit the ground. Within moments strong, thin arms were wrapped around her shoulders.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Sam murmured into her ear. Lena turned her head and cried into her friend’s collar, releasing her hold on the bed to return Sam’s hug.

“She has to wake up,” she whimpered.

“She will,” Sam assured her. “She’s strong.”

“You heard what Dr. Hamilton said.”

“Screw Dr. Hamilton,” Sam said firmly. “Screw all that. This is Supergirl we’re talking about and, more importantly, this is Kara. She has things to live for. She has you and now she has these babies. And take my word for it, a mother will fight tooth and nail to be with her babies. So yeah, it might be rough and it’s gonna hurt and who knows how long it might take, but she’s gonna wake up.”

Lena wiped her eyes on her sleeves and nodded. “You’re right. Of course you’re right. And hearing me break down isn’t helping matters.”

“You’re allowed to break down, Lena,” Alex said from above them. “Just don’t spiral.”

“You’ve been married to a shrink for too long,” Lena said lightly. She squeezed Sam once more for strength and pushed herself from the floor, smoothing out the front of her dress as she stood. “Now, I need to see the remains of that robot.”

“Are you sure you want to do that right now?” Alex asked.

“There’s nothing I can do here except fight the urge to hold her, and that’s not helpful,” Lena replied. “At least if I look at the robot I might be able to help give us an idea of what we’re fighting against.”

“I can stay with Kara and the eggs, and I’ll be sure to let you know if there’s any change,” Clark volunteered.

“Thank you,” Lena told him sincerely. He crossed an arm over his chest as a reminder of the pledge he had made, and Lena nodded in understanding. She turned back to Alex. “Lead the way.”

*****

The last time Lena looked at the clock, it was past midnight. She wasn’t sure how long it had been since then, wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Every time she looked at a clock she calculated how long Kara had been under the effects of Kryptonite, how long she had been trapped in her own unimaginable torture, and it made Lena sick. Instead she threw herself into dissecting and organizing every tiny remnant they had found of the robot, analyzing every screw, every soldered wire, every scratch in the metal. She paid special attention to the red sun emitter, comparing it to her own work and to what she knew of the devices Lex had created.

If anyone asked her, her findings were inconclusive. But in her mind, Lena was quickly coming to one conclusion, except that conclusion was impossible.

_Lex is dead._

She kept repeating it to herself. She repeated it when she identified the explosive mechanism, when she saw the capital Ls burned into the soldering marks, when she realized exactly how the wiring was done. Because she knew Lex’s work almost as well as she knew her own. She knew how he liked to do things, how he moved, how he put things together. She knew his signatures in his engineering almost better than she knew his signature on a piece of paper. And this robot might as well have had Lex Luthor’s name emblazoned on the chest.

_But Lex is dead._

None of it made any sense.

“LENA!”

She heard Alex’s shout from the hallway and dropped the piece of circuitry she had been staring at for the last half hour. She ran on bare feet to Kara’s room and saw Clark and Kelly— who had brought them dinner and joined their vigil— both cradling an egg, Alex and Dr. Hamilton both standing near Kara’s bed. The monitors were sounding eardrum piercing alarms.

Kara was no longer still. Her body thrashed in the bed as emerald and dark green lines glowed against her sweat-soaked skin.

“She’s seizing,” Dr. Hamilton said. “Her body is driving the last of the Kryptonite out of her system.”

Kara’s body bucked again, her torso bowing off the bed, and her mouth opened in a silent scream as the green veins suddenly began to disappear. Kara’s skin didn’t quite return to its normal healthy glow, but it looked far more human than before as her body collapsed back into the bed. Her head thrashed once, then twice, and finally blue eyes opened and looked around the room.

“Lena?” she called, her voice soft and scratchy.

“I’m right here, darling,” Lena assured her, coming to stand by the bedside. She took Kara’s hand between hers and squeezed. “I’m right here.”

“The eggs?” Kara murmured.

“They’re fine, Kelly and Clark have them, they’re here too,” Lena told her.

“Clark? Clark and Sam? Did we win?”

Clark chuckled. “Yeah, we won. Sam’s out calling Ruby right now, but she’ll be back in a minute. Everyone’s okay, Kara. You saved the day.”

“Mmm… good. Gonna take a nap now. So… tired.”

“Just rest,” Alex said softly, reaching down and stroking Kara’s sweaty hair. “We’ll be here when you wake up.”

Kara was already drifting off into what was now a peaceful sleep. Lena brought her wife’s hand to her lips and pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles.

“I think now we can focus the lamps on just her face, so you can keep holding her hand,” Alex said knowingly.

Lena nodded. “Sounds good.”

For the next few hours, Lena stayed by Kara’s side. The rest of their gang was in and out, between their own work on the case with the DEO. Kelly was her almost constant companion, but as usual her sister-in-law knew that Lena just needed quiet, and the occasional snack.

The sun was rising when Kara awoke again. Lena was half asleep, bent over the edge of the bed awkwardly, a pillow shoved haphazardly under one arm, Kara’s hand still held in her other hand. The eggs were sandwiched between a sleeping Alex and Kelly who had decided to take a nap on a small cot in the corner.

“Lena?” Kara said so softly that Lena almost missed it. But when she opened her eyes she met blue orbs that looked abnormally bright in the synthesized sunlight.

“Hi,” Lena greeted, rubbing the side of her face as she sat up.

“Hi,” Kara replied. “Are you okay?”

“You’re the one who was attacked by a Kryptonite-wielding robot and you’re asking me if _I’m_ okay?” Lena asked. “I’m just peachy.”

“You know what I mean,” Kara said. “I know it hurts you whenever I’m hurt.”

Lena squeezed her hand. “Only because I love you so much.”

“I know.” Kara squeezed back gently. “I— I heard you, when I was, you know.”

“I thought you probably could. Did it help?”

“Hearing you always helps,” Kara told her. “And just so you know, I meant what I said in my vows. I’ll always fight to come back to you, now you and our babies. But Lena… You’re so much stronger than you give yourself credit for. And if anything ever happens to me, you won’t be alone. You have so many people who love you.”

“I know that but… I want you,” Lena said, her voice slightly more petulant than she intended, and she could feel the tears starting to roll down her cheeks. “I don’t want to do this alone, Kara. I want it with you. I want babies and diapers and bottles and picnics and summer vacations and Christmas mornings with you. I want rocking chairs and gray hair and grand babies with you. So when you’re feeling better we’re going to have a long discussion about risk assessment in the field. But until then…”

Lena could tell by Kara’s grip on her hand that her powers were returning, so she reached up and switched off the sun lamp. Kara was still icky from the night before, but Lena couldn’t possibly care less, she just needed to be close to her wife. She pushed Kara over a bit until there was just enough room for her to lie on her side in the bed and wrap Kara in her embrace.

“I’m never letting you go,” Lena said into Kara’s shoulder.

“I can live with that,” Kara replied, pressing a kiss to Lena’s forehead.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares.  
Announcements.  
Threats.  
Fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a plan for this chapter. Then I started writing and the plan got thrown out the window.
> 
> It’s my usual blend of fluff and angst and humor.
> 
> As usual, excuse any errors, I’m free writing and not editing much, don’t have a beta reader. I post these literally five minutes after I finish typing them.

The halls of the Luthor mansion were just as Lena remembered them— dark and cold and seemingly endless. Paintings of Luthor forebears, people Lena had never met but with whom she shared blood, stared down at her with familiar features— receding hairlines, dark hair, strong jaws, and piercing blue eyes that seemed to follow her every movement. Lena’s heels clicked against the hardwood floors as she made her way through the hall, her velvet evening gown flowing around her.

She finally emerged into the library, an expansive two-story room lined with bookshelves full to bursting with expensive tomes passed down through the generations and collectors’ items purchased by Lionel and later Lex. She had never actually been allowed to read the books in this room— “these books are not for fat, sticky fingers, Lena!”— but she would stare at them in awe, wondering what words lay on the other side of the faded covers. A fire was blazing in the massive stone fireplace, casting a red glow over the room and its occupants.

“It’s about time you joined us,” Lex’s disdainful voice rang out in the empty hall.

“Yes, we wouldn’t want you to miss this,” Lillian sneered.

They were both dressed in their finest clothes, just like Lena, as if they were attending a lavish gala instead of standing in the middle of an empty library. Lena stared at them in confusion from the doorway.

“Lena!”

“K— Kara?” Lena stuttered.

Kara was dressed in a long red gown, her hair loose around her shoulders, glasses missing from her face. She hurried across the room to Lena and grabbed her hand.

“Hurry, it’s time!” she said gleefully, pulling Lena across the room.

“Time for what? Kara, what are we _doing_ here?”

“Time for the babies to hatch, of course,” Kara replied. “They should be surrounded by family when they enter the world.”

“Yes, but, _my_ family?”

The eggs were laying on an elaborate velvet cushion in front of the fireplace. Lena could see small cracks spreading across both golden surfaces.

“Why shouldn’t they be with us? They’re Luthors!” A familiar booming voice rang out and Lena turned abruptly from the eggs to see Lionel Luthor himself, perched on the end of the sofa.

“F— Father?” Lena stuttered. “No, that’s… you’re dead. You’re…” She turned to Lex. “You’re dead too.”

Lex laughed humorlessly. “Oh, Lena, don’t worry about such dark things. This is a joyous time. We’re about to see the newest members of the Luthor family. A little thing like death couldn’t keep us away.”

Suddenly the room was filled with figures, dressed in every kind of finery, their faces strange and yet familiar. They were the people from the paintings, from the portraits Lionel used to show her as he told her the proud history of the Luthors and sipped his scotch. They looked on with eager, hungry eyes, all focused on the eggs that lay in front of the fire.

“No,” Lena said firmly, turning away from them. “Kara, we have to get out of here. We can’t let our babies be anywhere near them. Please…”

“Shh, Lena, look, they’re here,” Kara said, her voice breathy with awe.

Lena looked back toward the eggs and saw that the shell was falling away, but what was emerging…

“Kara, what is _that_?” she gasped.

“Shh, these are our babies,” Kara replied, bending and scooping up a creature in each arm.

They were humanoid in form, but that was where their human qualities ended. Their skin was scaled and black, their bodies thin and twisted. Spindly bat-like wings spread from their backs, claws tipped their fingers and toes, and slotted green eyes the same color as Lena’s.

“Aren’t they beautiful?” Kara cooed.

“Kara that… that’s not…” Lena backed away, only stopping when she collided with another body.

She recognized Lex’s hands on her shoulders, trapping her in place.

“Don’t you want to see your children, Lena?” he hissed into her ear. “Don’t you want to hold the monsters you’ve created?”

“My children are not monsters!” Lena exclaimed. “My children are not… that!”

“Oh, you poor fool,” Lex said pityingly. “What else could a Luthor make but monsters?”

*****

Lena awoke covered in sweat and shaking. The bedroom was awash with moonlight, draining the color from the already stark room. Beside her Kara was spread out like a starfish, blonde hair fanned out across the pillows like a silver wave. Lena’s first instinct was to snuggle into her wife’s side for comfort, but she didn’t want to wake her. Instead she rose silently from the bed and padded into the kitchen.

Her first thought was to pour herself a tumbler full of scotch, but she tamped down that urge with some difficulty. She had cut back on her alcohol consumption since marrying Kara, choosing healthier coping mechanisms to deal with her issues. Since learning that they were going to have children, she had cut back even more, only partaking of a single glass of wine with dinner, sometimes going days at a time without the familiar comforting burn of scotch in her throat. Most of the time it was actually easy.

This was not one of those times.

She gulped down a glass of water in seconds, trying to drown the urge in something healthy, before pouring another glass and sitting at the kitchen island. The clock over the stove read 3:34 am, which meant Lena had only slept for three hours and should’ve slept for at least four more, but with her heart still pounding in her chest she didn’t think she would get any more sleep tonight.

The Luthors were dead.

Well, mostly dead. Lillian was still alive, locked away in a maximum security prison, and Lena hadn’t visited her since before her marriage to Kara. But the rest of them, Lex and Lionel and all the rest, were dead and gone. And yet Lena couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that settled in the pit of her stomach, couldn’t wash it away with water or booze.

“Hey.”

Lena’s body shook with surprise at the soft greeting. Kara padded quietly from the dark hallway into the kitchen, Moses basket perched on one hip until she placed it on the kitchen counter.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” she said apologetically.

Lena took another gulp of water. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t, not really,” Kara said, sitting beside her. “Well, the absence of you did. I realized your heartbeat wasn’t right beside me and the bed was cold, and that woke me up.”

Lena raised her glass into the air and stared at the liquid, wishing it was amber. If she held it up just right, with the glass between her face and the eggs, it almost looked the right color…

“Plus I could hear you thinking all the way in the bedroom,” Kara added, and Lena turned to meet her pensive gaze. “Penny for your thoughts.”

Lena pursed her lips in thought. It had been a week since Supergirl had fought the robot with the red-sun emitter. Kara had been weakened for days, staying under the DEO sunlamps for two more nights before coming home to rest under the slightly weaker lamps in their home for another day. She had just resumed Supergirl duties the day before, after a very long discussion about calling in backup and waiting for said backup when necessary.

Burdening her with Lena’s irrational anxieties over the Luthors was just too much for now.

“I guess I was just thinking about tomorrow,” Lena said instead. “Dreading it.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie, though it wasn’t exactly the truth. They had decided to make a public announcement about the impending birth of their babies a month before they were due— though the announcement would say that they were expecting via surrogate instead of eggs. They both needed to make preparations for full-time maternity leave; particularly Lena had to arrange for Sam to take over most of her duties with some assistance from other L-Corp employees (mainly Jess). Plus Lena was a public figure, as both a CEO and a Luthor, and so was Kara, though slightly less-so, not only as Lena’s wife but also as a journalist after her Pulitzer win and several other remarkable articles. The sudden appearance of two infants in their lives wouldn’t go unnoticed.

“I know what you mean,” Kara said, eyes flicking from Lena to the eggs. “We’ve been in such a bubble of privacy since it happened… I don’t want to share them with anyone else, you know?”

Lena nodded. “I’m sorry we can’t just be a normal family.”

Kara snorted. “Lena, I’m an alien. I was never going to be normal. But you… this life with you… Honestly, it’s the most normal I’ve ever felt.”

Lena smiled wanly. “I feel the same. Who would’ve thought that being married to Supergirl and having eggs for children would be normal?”

“Normal for a Luthor,” Kara teased, bumping her shoulder gently against Lena’s. She yawned, the motion distracting her from the way Lena tensed at her words. “You ready to go back to bed now?”

“I suppose,” Lena said, draining the last of her water and rising from the stool. She rinsed her glass in the sink as Kara picked up the eggs and followed her wife to the bedroom. Once they were tucked beneath the covers, Kara pulled Lena against her side and gave her a reassuring squeeze. Kara’s breathing gradually slowed into long, deep sighs that rustled the crown of Lena’s hair. Lena tried to clear her mind, tried to focus on the soothing breath, the gentle thrum of her wife’s heartbeat in her chest, until finally, finally, falling into a reluctant sleep.

*****

“So how was it?”

Lena rolled her eyes, only to realize that Sam couldn’t see the gesture via phone call.

“As well as could be expected,” Lena said, leaning into Kara’s side where she sat beside her on the sofa in her office. “There was some grumbling, some obvious concern that I’ll be taking time off— though much less of that than expected, which only speaks to your competence, Sam. Most of them offered congratulations. Ambrose actually offered congratulations to both of us or, in his words, me _and the little woman_.”

Kara snorted and muttered softly. “He wouldn’t say that if he knew who was on the receiving end of the strap most nights.”

A choking cough crackled through the phone speaker.

“Um, Kara, I have superheating via phone too,” Sam interjected before bursting into laughter.

Lena buried her red face in Kara’s shoulder. “I’m going to kill both of you, I swear.”

“You love us too much,” Kara teased, kissing the crown of Lena’s head.

“Yeah, and that would leave you raising three kids alone, and you definitely don’t want that,” Sam interjected between peals of laughter. “By the way, Ruby was actually happy when I told her she was getting cousins. Do you know how rare that is? I haven’t seen a smile on that kid since she turned fifteen.”

“Well, she better smile when you guys get here or else her favorite aunt will be very disappointed,” Kara said, taking a bite of her sandwich.

“Um, excuse you, I believe favorite aunt is my title,” Lena huffed.

“You two can fight it out when we get there,” Sam said. “Oh, shoot, my one o’clock is here. Lena, email me more specifics about that project and the apartment we’re staying in, and I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Will do,” Lena replied, pressing the button on her phone to disconnect the call. “She drives me nuts but I can’t wait for her to be in town, even if it is just for three months.”

“I still think you should take a longer maternity leave,” Kara mumbled around her last bite of lunch.

“I know,” Lena sighed. “And I think it’s going to be hard enough leaving them to come back after twelve weeks. But somebody has to pay to feed three Kryptonians and put two of them through college.”

“Speaking of feeding Kryptonians…”

“Kara, you literally just finished lunch,” Lena deadpanned.

“I can’t help it that I need ten thousand calories a day to fuel my powers!” Kara exclaimed as she stood up from the couch. “But, anyway, I was thinking Italian? Zacconi’s?”

Lena grinned. “Sounds good. And make sure you get extra breadsticks.”

“See, I knew there was a reason I married you,” Kara said, bending down to give Lena a quick kiss. “Love you. See you tonight.”

“Love you, too,” Lena told her as she ripped off her glasses and sped from the office to fly from the balcony. Lena shook her head and looked down at the eggs beside her. “Maybe you two will have human metabolisms.”

Lena’s afternoon passed by in a productive blur. She set up the final arrangements for the apartment Sam and Ruby would be living in for the summer while Sam covered for Lena’s maternity leave, negotiated deals with businesses in Hong Kong and Moscow, and even managed to spend some time working in the lab on a cloaking technology she was working on in conjunction with the DEO. Between these tasks she fielded a number of congratulatory emails and telephone calls, so by the time she was collecting her things at six o’clock that evening, Lena was in a rare state of near-bliss.

“Oh, Miss Luthor, are you heading out?”

Lena looked up from where she was tucking the eggs into their carrier to see that her assistant’s expression was the complete opposite of her own.

“Is there a problem, Jess?” she asked. “Don’t tell me Dr. Ellison’s intern blew up Lab Three again?”

“What? Oh, no, Miss Luthor, um… You haven’t been watching the news?” Jess asked hesitantly.

“No, I’ve been preoccupied,” Lena said, but she reached for the remote and switched on the television automatically at her assistant’s words.

“Maybe you—“ Jess began, but the sound of the news anchor cut her off.

“L-Corp CEO Lena Luthor announced today that she and her wife are expecting twins via surrogate,” the middle-aged man with slicked-back brown hair said into the camera. “Luthor is younger sister to the late anti-alien terrorist Lex Luthor and daughter of Lillian Luthor who is currently serving a life-sentence for terrorist crimes against alien refugees.”

“Yes, and as you might imagine, the announcement has not only stirred the business world but also the alien population,” the female news anchor added. “Authorities are currently at work scanning chat rooms on the dark web with threats against Luthor and her unborn children. We sent our own Natalie Mills to survey National City’s own extraterrestrial residents for their opinions.”

Lena could feel her heart pounding in her chest as the scene on the television switched from the station’s news desk to a sidewalk that Lena recognized as just outside of L-Corp where a young woman was standing holding a red-labeled microphone.

“Thank you, Dan and Michelle,” the reporter said. “We’ve spent the afternoon surveying many of National City’s alien residents and found mixed opinions of the announcement.”

The scene changed to focus on a man Lena recognized— an Acrillian who worked in L-Corp’s financial division. He was humanoid, but recognizable as an alien by his yellow eyes, pure white hair, and dark pointed ears.

“I’ve worked for L-Corp for four years, ever since Miss Luthor became CEO,” the man, whose name Lena didn’t know but read Bartham Regalis across the bottom of the screen. “While I’ve never met her personally, Miss Luthor doesn’t seem to be like the rest of her family. She implemented programs to hire more aliens at L-Corp when she became CEO and has championed programs for alien healthcare. If I could speak to her personally, I would congratulate her and her life-mate on their offspring.”

Lena hugged the eggs closer to her chest and made a mental note to thank Bartham in person for his kind words. The screen flickered again, this time showing an alien with gray, stony-looking skin and steely blue eyes.

“A Luthor’s a Luthor, in my opinion,” the alien said into the microphone. “On my planet, if one member of your clan does something so despicable, the entire clan is put to death. A clan must be responsible for their members, and evil begets nothing but evil. Someone like that shouldn’t be allowed to live, and certainly not breed more evil into the world.”

Lena’s jaw tensed at the alien’s words and the screen flickered again. This time the alien appeared human, but Lena couldn’t distinguish if its features were male or female. Long wavy hair flowed from its face and dark eyes looked into the camera over high cheekbones. Small lines pink gills flared on its neck as it spoke in a soft voice.

“Miss Luthor has a clear record, that is true,” the alien said. “But we can only pray for our own children’s sake that her children will not become monsters like the rest of the Luthor family.”

Lena flipped off the television and looked down at the eggs she held in her arms.

“Why wasn’t I immediately informed of these threats?” she asked, her voice low and hard.

“Miss Danvers called and said she had a team working on it,” Jess told her. “Your cyber security team has been working with her people ever since she called, and I amped up your personal security just in case.”

White hot anger flared in Lena’s chest. “Miss Danvers is not your boss, I am. The next time even the slightest threat is made against my children, I expect to be informed at once, or you can find employment elsewhere. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Miss Luthor,” Jess replied with wide eyes. “Of course. I’m… I’m very sorry…”

“Keep me informed of any developments,” Lena ordered, pulling the carrier onto her back and brushing past her stammering assistant. “Have Carl meet me with the car downstairs.”

The walk across the sidewalk to her waiting towncar was short, but Lena couldn’t help but look in all directions, scanning the crowd for threats. She knew her security team was nearby but unseen, they were top-notch for a reason, but still she looked for any threat to the precious cargo she carried. She barely relaxed once she was inside the bulletproof vehicle, tapping a rhythm against the carrier that she held in her lap as she pulled up the websites on her phone to see the threats against her family with her own eyes.

Normally she would have Carl drop her off in front of her building, but tonight she had him drive all the way into the parking garage so she could get into the elevator unseen. Even when she stepped into their apartment and the scent of Italian takeout hit her nostrils, she didn’t allow herself to relax in the slightest.

“Hey, there you are!” Kara called. She opened her arms in greeting, but Lena bypassed her wife to pick up the tablet where it was resting on the end of the counter. She closed the music app Kara had been using and opened the control panel for her security system. She engaged the highest level of security and watched as a blue force field lit up along the windows and locks clicked into place on all the doors— even the interior ones.

“So you’ve seen the news?” Kara said softly.

“Obviously.”

Kara visibly deflated. “I was hoping you hadn’t. Brainy and the DEO techs have been working on shutting it down all day—“

“And you didn’t think I should know?” Lena demanded. “You didn’t think I needed to know that people were threatening our unborn children?”

“I’m not going to let them get to them or you,” Kara assured her, crossing her arms defensively.

“That’s not the point,” Lena told her. “I’m their mother, I need to know these things. I may be human but I’m not defenseless, Kara, and I’m damn sure not going to sit idly by while someone threatens my family.”

“Shh, take it easy,” Kara soothed.

“I will not take it easy!” Lena exclaimed. “I want whomever is threatening our babies found and I want them thrown into the deepest pits of hell you can find. Do you understand me?”

“I understand, Lena, I feel the same way. I was ready to knock these assholes into the next solar system when I found out, but Alex calmed me down. We have to let the authorities handle it. Especially because it’s aliens making the threats, we have to be careful not to respond with violence because—“

“Because that’ll just make me look like an alien-hating Luthor,” Lena finished. She clenched her hands into fists at her sides and threw her head back. “Fuck!”

“That was basically my reaction when I realized that charging in as Supergirl to protect Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers’ children would do more to risk my identity and risk our family than standing back and letting the authorities take over,” Kara said sympathetically. “But I may have also burned a wall at the DEO with my heat vision.”

Lena clenched her fists again before looking at Kara. “No keeping secrets. You promised me. Never again. Not even if you think you’re protecting me.”

“Never again, I promise,” Kara said, shifting uneasily. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking, I just…”

“I know,” Lena sighed. Because she did know. It didn’t excuse Kara not telling her, but she could understand her motivations. “Can we… Can I have a hug?”

“Always,” Kara replied. She pulled Lena into her arms, squeezing as tight as she dared. Lena melted into her embrace. “It’s all gonna be okay,” she murmured into Lena’s hair as she kissed her temple. “We’ll get through this. _El mayarah_.”

“_El mayarah_,” Lena whispered back.

After a long minute Kara pulled back slightly. “Okay, enough with the heavy. There’s a plate of chicken carbonara over here with your name on it and plenty of breadsticks for the both of us. Plus I’ve got a good surprise that might cheer you up.”

“You have my attention,” Lena said, and then her stomach growled. “Okay, you have my full attention.”

Kara laughed heartily as she pulled Lena into the kitchen, quickly plating their dinners and heading to the sofa. Lena loved date nights eating dinner by candlelight in the dining room, but even more she loved curling up on the sofa with Kara for meals. Every meal was a formal affair in the Luthor household growing up, a stiff affair where food was an excuse to reflect on Lex’s many accolades and Lena’s many failures, at least in Lillian’s eyes. It was enough to put one off their food quickly. Eating with Kara was a completely different experience, no matter where they were.

Tonight they were quiet, the air still heavy with the stress of the day, and both were clearly famished— Kara would argue that she was always famished— but with every sigh of contentment, every elbow bump, every stolen bite of pasta from each other’s plates, the stress seemed to melt away, replaced by the warmth that Lena only felt when she was beside her wife. It was a warmth she had felt long before she realized the depths of her feelings for Kara, before she had known she was Supergirl, when they had been nothing more than best friends. Lena had never known anything like it, this familiar warmth of two souls basking in one another’s presence. It was that warmth that had made her open up to Kara in the first place, after so many betrayals, that warmth that had turned to bitter ash when she discovered that Kara was Supergirl, and it was missing that warmth that had pulled them together again.

“Okay, so what’s this _good surprise_ that you have for me?” she asked once she had finished most of her pasta.

“HMPH!” Kara exclaimed around a mouthful of breadsticks. She sat her plate down and reached for her notebook where it was resting on the coffee table. She flipped through the pages as she chewed and swallowed. “Well, I was thinking this morning, we should probably start thinking up names for these two. I don’t know how we’re ever supposed to decide, to be honest. It’s probably a good thing we’re having two, I can’t imagine having to narrow it down to just one, but anyway…” She finally came to the page she was looking for and proudly thrust it into Lena’s lap. “I started a list. We can add to it, of course, and narrow it down. If there’s any you don’t like just cross them off, I’m just throwing out ideas, you know?”

Lena smiled at Kara’s enthusiasm and took the notebook in her hands. Kara was right, with barely a month left until the babies were supposed to hatch, they should start figuring out things like names. But as Lena read over the list Kara had compiled, one detail stood out to her and made her frown.

“Kara, all of these names start with the letter _L_,” she said.

“Well, yeah, I wasn’t sure but I thought you might want to keep that tradition so…”

“Why would I want to keep it?” Lena asked. “I don’t want my children to have anything to do with the Luthors, I certainly don’t want to keep a naming tradition because of them.”

“I just… I mean, it does have a nice ring to it. And some of the names are pretty. One of my favorites is Lorelei. Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it? Lorelei Luthor-Danvers?” Kara asked.

“Lorelei Lu—“ Lena’s stomach was suddenly in knots. Her blood pulsed in her ears and all she could hear were the words of the alien on the news and the words from her dreams.

_A Luthor’s a Luthor…_

_What else could a Luthor make but monsters?_

“Lena?” Kara said softly.

Lena practically threw the notebook across the room. She grabbed her plate and fled to the kitchen, raking her leftovers back into the takeout box until her fork scraped eerily against the china.

“Maybe we shouldn’t give them the Luthor name,” she said quickly. “Our children can just be Danvers. That would be better, wouldn’t it?”

“But, Lena, they’re your children, too,” Kara said, brow furrowed in confusion. “They should have your last name.”

“They don’t need my last name!” Lena exclaimed. “If they weren’t Luthors then we wouldn’t have had to announce that we were expecting in a freaking press release! There wouldn’t be news anchors and complete strangers talking about our babies like they’re going to be monsters that should be put down before they’ve even had a chance to live!”

Kara put her plate on the table and was across the room and pulling Lena into her embrace faster than she could blink.

“Hey, shh, it’s okay,” she soothed. “I know you’re still scared.”

“It’s my fault,” Lena murmured into her shoulder. “It’s my fault they’re at risk. If my last name was Smith, this wouldn’t be happening.”

“If your last name was Smith, you wouldn’t be you,” Kara told her. “I know life would be simpler if you hadn’t been born a Luthor. And goodness knows sometimes I wish, for your sake, that your life could’ve been easier. Just like I wish Krypton hadn’t been destroyed, that my life could’ve been different. But at the same time, I thank Rao or fate or whatever gods had a hand in bringing us together that we were set on this path because it brought us together. I fell in love with you, Lena _Luthor_, because you’re beautiful and brilliant and kind and strong, and you’ve known pain but you’ve come out stronger and kinder for it. And our children are going to love you. They’re going to learn so much from you. They’re going to grow up strong and kind and loving because their mother is all those things. And someday when they learn what the Luthors have done, they’re going to be even more in awe of you, and proud to call you their Mama.”

“I just… I don’t want them to resent me because of my name,” Lena said finally.

“Well, according to Sam, when they’re teenagers they’re gonna resent us for everything,” Kara said, trying to lighten the mood. Lena shook her head into Kara’s shoulder and she sighed. “Lena, it doesn’t matter what their last name is. They’re still yours. Luthor blood still runs through their veins. People will still know they’re Luthors, whether it’s on paper or not. The only thing we can do is love them and protect them with everything we have.”

Lena sighed into Kara’s shoulder. It wasn’t even eight yet, and yet she felt the weight of exhaustion in her very bones.

“You’re right,” she said, trying to thicken her voice with resolve but it came out brittle instead. “I think… I think I just want to go to bed. We still have some time. We can talk about this more later.”

“Yeah, later,” Kara said. Suddenly an alert chirped from her pocket. “That’s Alex calling for Supergirl.”

“Go, take care of Supergirl business,” Lena said, reaching up to kiss her cheek. “I’m going to tuck in early. Be safe.”

“You’re sure you’re alright?” Kara asked as Lena stepped out of her embrace.

Lena forced a smile onto her face. “Go be a hero, Supergirl. I’ll try not to hog the blankets.”

Kara smiled in return, but Lena could still see the worry in her eyes. “Okay. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

*****

“Alex didn’t say what this was about when she called you?”

“Again, no, she did not,” Kara said as they entered the DEO. “She just said it was something about the eggs but it wasn’t bad, so we shouldn’t worry.”

Lena’s frown deepened. Her sister-in-law telling her not to worry rarely did anything to assuage her fears— in fact, it often had the opposite effect. Kara had left the eggs with Alex at the DEO that morning so she could help stop a fire on an oil rig out at sea, while Lena dealt with a small emergency at L-Corp.

“Ah! Lena and Kara! Director Danvers is waiting for you in the medical bay,” Brainy exclaimed from the control panel when they entered. He paused as he approached them and sniffed audibly. “Why do both of you smell like smoke? I know Supergirl put out a fire this morning, but… Oh, have you engaged in sexual intercourse before allowing Kara to shower?”

Lena’s cheeks flushed red, not because she was surprised by Brainy’s abrupt nature— she found it oddly refreshing when he wasn’t talking about her sex life— but because he said it in the middle of the DEO hub. Beside her Kara pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration and muttered Kryptonese curse words under her breath.

“There was a small explosion in Lab Three at L-Corp,” Lena explained.

“That explains it,” Brainy replied with a grin, then looked at Kara with confusion. “Why is she wishing she could feed me to a Kryptonian _ethirgoss_? They are extinct and were highly unpleasant creatures when alive. They swallowed their prey whole and it died while being digested through three stomachs with various levels of acidity.”

“You’re a twelfth-level intellect, you figure it out,” Kara growled. “Let’s go find Alex.”

Alex was in the med bay, surrounded by various types of imaging equipment, typing into a tablet, and the eggs were lying on a padded bench in front of her. She looked up with a wide grin as they entered.

“Hey, you’re here!” she said excitedly.

“Alex, what’s going on?” Kara asked tensely. Her entire body had tensed when she saw the eggs surrounded by medical equipment.

“Oh, nothing’s wrong, I swear!” Alex exclaimed. “It’s just, I was running some tests—“

A sharp hiss from Kara interrupted her explanation. It was a sound Kara hadn’t made since right after she laid the eggs, and it was a reminder that just because her hormones were no longer running rampant, she was still very much a protective mama dragon.

“I thought we agreed not to run tests on the babies,” Kara hissed angrily, pupils blown as she looked at Alex. And while Lena didn’t want her wife to do anything she would regret, like harm her adoptive sister, she was also just as upset that Alex had gone against their wishes.

“It wasn’t anything invasive!” Alex defended. “I was just thinking it would be helpful if we could see how they’re developing in there.”

“Alex, I’m not even using my x-ray vision to see them because we don’t want the radiation to affect them!” Kara exclaimed. “We’ve been through this…”

“I didn’t use radiation,” Alex told them. “I used the same modified ultrasound machine that we’ve used on you. I actually started at a lower frequency and was able to get a clear image with just slightly higher frequency than used in a human ultrasound.”

Kara’s eyes widened. “You were able to get an image?”

“Are you positive it won’t harm them?” Lena asked.

“Absolutely one hundred percent positive,” Alex assured them. She bit her lip in an attempt to tame the smile that was threatening to break out now that Kara had calmed down. “Would you like to see them?”

Lena had to bite her tongue at how quickly Kara went from attack dog to overeager puppy at Alex’s words. She, on the other hand, wasn’t quite so quick to forgive.

“Okay, we are going to have a very long talk about parental consent in the very near future,” she warned sternly. “But… yes, we would definitely like to see them.”

Now Alex’s grin spread fully across her face as she reached for the device. Kara was practically bouncing as she watched Alex turn on a screen and raise a small handheld device toward one of the eggs.

“Okay, so we just press this here,” Alex said softly, talking to herself more than the two of them. “Now where have you wiggled to you little… There, now bringing the image into focus…”

Kara suddenly became still as a statue beside Lena, even holding her breath as the image on the screen came into focus. At first it was just an amorphous gray blob in a sea of grainy black, but as Alex dialed in the sittings it suddenly became clear.

Lena exhaled the breath she didn’t know she had been holding as she could suddenly see the outline of a nose. The baby’s profile appeared on the screen, from the soft curve of its forehead to the tiny button nose and the edge of its jaw. She could see its lips part and then another shape blurred past the face and stayed there.

“Is it—?” she began.

“Sucking its thumb, yeah,” Alex said with a soft smile.

“Oh wow, that’s…” Kara sighed, staring transfixed at the screen. “Wow.”

“Very astute, Kara,” Alex teased.

Lena stepped closer to the screen, watching as the image moved. She could see the slight give to chubby cheeks as the baby sucked its thumb, could make out small bumps on the hand where four fingers were curled into a fist. Before she could stop herself, she reached out and touched the screen, fingers ghosting across the tiny face. Just as quickly she yanked her hand away, turning instead to the egg, and she stroked her fingers across the curved shell beside where Alex was holding the ultrasound transmitter.

“You’re really in there,” she said softly.

“Can you tell if it’s a boy or a girl?” Kara asked.

“I can try, but I wasn’t able to get a good angle on either of them when I tried earlier,” Alex replied, moving the transmitter around so that the image on the screen changed.

Lena could see a second arm and hand, with five fingers splayed wide as if waving, and the soft swell of a baby belly with a thin umbilical cord connected to a large pool of white material— the egg yolk, Alex explained. Down further two legs were bent at the knees, and Alex maneuvered the transmitter in several directions before scowling.

“Your kid doesn’t seem to want to give up the goods,” she said. “I can try the other one, too.”

“Yes, let’s see that one too!” Kara exclaimed excitedly.

Lena watched as Alex repeated the process on the second egg, running the transmitter across the surface so they could see another face with chubby cheeks, two arms, hands with five fingers each, all the way down to feet so clear that Lena could count ten tiny toes. But as with its sibling, this baby didn’t seem willing to give up its secrets either, making its sex impossible to tell with the ultrasound.

“Oh well, it’s probably for the best anyway,” Kara said with a shrug. “We’re keeping the nursery and baby clothes gender neutral. I’m okay with it being a surprise. What about you, Lena? Lena?”

Lena hadn’t realized there were tears streaming down her cheeks until Kara called her name. She wiped hastily at her face as Kara pulled her into her arms.

“Give us a minute?” Kara asked Alex, and the DEO Director nodded in response before stepping out of the room. Kara turned her attention back to Lena. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I just… Do you remember when you said it would hit me?” she asked with a husky laugh. “I think it just did. I mean I’ve known, logically, that they were in there, but seeing them like that… It’s just something else, you know?”

“I know,” Kara said, pressing a kiss to her hair. “And I know you’re still worried about everything last night. But we’re going to keep them safe. Everything’s gonna be alright.”

Lena pulled back slightly, wiping her eyes again. “About last night. I was thinking about what we talked about… about their last names. And I remembered that Danvers isn’t even your real last name. I know you love your adopted family, but…”

“It’s okay, Lena, really,” Kara interrupted, knowing where she was going with this before Lena even finished.

“I was just thinking it’s unfair, really, that they can’t carry on the name of the House of El,” Lena continued, ignoring Kara’s interruption. “But then I thought, maybe there’s a way that they can.”

Kara’s brow crinkled in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I thought maybe we could give them names that start with _El_,” Lena said. “Not the letter L, but E-L, like the House of El.”

Kara’s expression turned from confused to thoughtful to elated in seconds. She looked down at Lena with a lopsided smile and wide eyes.

“You’re brilliant, you know that?” she said, bending to press a quick kiss to Lena’s lips. “Did you have anything in mind?”

“Well… I really like the name Eleanor,” Lena said shyly.

Kara practically beamed. “Eleanor. Eleanor Luthor-Danvers?”

Lena nodded resolutely. “Eleanor Luthor-Danvers.”

“It’s perfect,” Kara declared. “Absolutely perfect.”

“Unless they both turn out to be boys,” Lena sighed. “Alura said that was possible, remember? Your weird Kryptonian eggs could still have a Y-chromosome even though we’re both females.”

“Then I guess we need to start coming up with more possibilities,” Kara said excitedly. “We can make another list! Together this time!”

“I’d like that,” Lena replied with a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Lena’s being a hypocrite. It’s her character flaw. These two have issues with keeping things to themselves and I imagine that even after being in a relationship for a while, they’re still struggling with it. All will be well.
> 
> Also, if you have theories on the babies’ gender, feel free to leave that in the comments. I... already know what they are even if Kara and Lena don’t lol


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nia throws Kara and Lena a baby shower.  
Alex and Kelly get a surprise.  
Kara and Lena get a different surprise as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it’s been... a while! I haven’t abandoned our Dragon moms and their eggs, just been crazy busy.  
I also posted a sequel of sorts with a Christmas theme, but it does have spoilers, so if you don’t want to know the genders/names of the babies, don’t read it yet. But, anyway, here’s Chapter Six!

For over a year after she moved to National City, Lena lived out of a hotel room. Well, more accurately, she slept in a hotel room. She practically lived at L-Corp, sometimes even working overnight while she fought to restructure the company. Even after LuthorCorp became L-Corp, she couldn’t quite bring herself to make a permanent home in National City. She still envisioned being driven out of town simply for being a Luthor, maybe not with torches and pitchforks, but perhaps escorted by a Kryptonian in a red cape.

When she finally decided to find her own place, she left most of the process up to a realtor and interior designer. She had very few demands— modern, open, and light. She had grown up in Luthor houses that were dominated by dark wood and stone and long, closed corridors, and she didn’t want her personal space to remind her of that in the least. And she got what she asked for— a luxurious two-bedroom penthouse with an open concept living area, pale stone, modern furniture, and floor to ceiling windows. It should’ve been perfect, and yet it never quite felt like home.

No, the place she felt most at home, in her first few years in National City, was in Kara’s apartment. It was similar to her own, in some ways— open concept, plenty of natural light. But Kara’s apartment was warm, much like the woman herself, with rich woods and exposed brick and the light seemed to shine in golden through the windows. The decor was eclectic, as if Kara had collected everything one item at a time, with a plethora of colors that somehow never clashed. Lena practically melted every time she sank into Kara’s sofa and wrapped herself in blankets softer than anything she had felt on this planet.

And then she found out that the blankets really were from another planet, and so was Kara. And she… didn’t take it well, to put it lightly. But in the following months she found herself missing the familiar warmth, found herself wrapped in a blue blanket she had once vowed to burn— if fire would even work on it. And once she and Kara began talking again, and eventually dating, she found herself spending more and more time in Kara’s apartment and less in her own.

When they decided to move in together, Lena thought blending their personal styles would be a nightmare, but she was proven wrong. She decided to convert some of L-Corp’s waterside warehouses into upscale apartments, and it happened right as she and Kara were getting tired of shuffling between two apartments. She made her same requests as she had made with her first apartment— modern, open, and light— and she got what she asked for, yet somehow it was totally different from her penthouse. There was exposed brick, so reminiscent of Kara’s apartment, but it was perfectly whitewashed. Wrought iron windows and skylights splashed golden sunlight on golden oak floorboards. Modern white cabinets and marble countertops somehow blended with exposed wooden beams and a brilliant blue backsplash that Lena thought would be gaudy but actually loved.

Kara said it reminded her of Krypton.

White and gray furniture was accented with colorful pillows and plush throw blankets. Plain walls were disrupted with paintings— some by Kara’s own hand— and photographs of their family and friends. Almost every corner boasted a pop of green, courtesy of one of Kara’s many “leafy dependents” which Lena wasn’t allowed to touch because whatever the opposite of a green thumb was, Lena had it. This apartment quickly and easily became home in a way Lena had never imagined.

One thing their apartment was missing, however, was pastel. Perhaps not missing it completely, as Kara’s cardigan collection would attest, but definitely lacking in pastels when it came to decor. At least, according to Nia Nal. And baby showers needed pastel— according to Nia.

Within two hours her apartment went from neutral with tasteful pops of color to a pastel rainbow, with streamers hung from every available surface, balloons covering the ceiling, and clashing paper table cloths in pink and blue and pale green and yellow and lavender covering the dark wood of her dining room table and pale marble of the kitchen island. A massive amount of food was spread across those surfaces as well— Eliza had enlisted the help of Martha Kent in preparing enough food to feed two Kryptonians and their human and alien found families, and the two women had outdone themselves. Jess had arrived at hour early to the party and was helping Nia with the decorating— although Lena wasn’t sure what other surfaces were left to be decorated.

Lena wandered away from the main living area down the hallway, until she came to the doorway of the spare room they had turned into a nursery. In here, at least, Nia’s pastels hadn’t quite invaded. The walls were a soft pale gray, and a rug with pale green and yellow swirls covered most of the floor. Two white cribs sat against one wall, and a matching dresser topped with a changing pad sat opposite them. In front of the windows, however, were Lena’s favorite pieces of furniture in the room, perhaps in the entire apartment.

Two padded rocking chairs sat in front of the windows, both soft white but one with a pale yellow pillow and one with pale green. The polished wood was antique, recycled from chairs Lena had found in a secondhand store in Ireland when she and Kara went to track down her birth mother’s family. They had added the upholstery, soft but durable fabric Alura had sent from Krypton. The chairs fused bits of both her and Kara’s heritages in them, and they would rock their children to sleep in them.

The chairs weren’t empty. Kara was sitting in one of them, eyes closed as she soaked up the afternoon sun, eggs secure but awkward in her arms. They had grown literally overnight, expanding seamlessly as the fetuses inside grew larger. Lena gently slipped one of the eggs from her wife’s arms and sat in the second chair, closing her own eyes.

“Twenty minutes until the guests are supposed to arrive,” she told Kara. “Tell me again why we agreed to this?”

“Because we have family and friends whom we love and they love us back and we should all celebrate the babies,” Kara said, repeating the line she had used for the last week while Nia hounded them with party planning details.

“Right,” Lena replied. “And we let Nia plan it because…?”

“Because we love her and she volunteered to do it for free,” Kara finished, again repeating the same line she had used all week. “It’s gonna be great, Lena. If nothing else, eat some of Eliza’s food and drink enough of Lois’s champagne punch to get tipsy but not drunk and just have a good time.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Lena was used to parties. The Luthor had hosted them frequently when she was growing up, wrapping her in scratchy dresses and parading her and Lex in front of all their guests. Lillian had trained her to be the perfect hostess, how to direct caterers and decorators while mingling with guests, how to make polite conversation and laugh charmingly at all the right times.

This was not a Luthor party. And Lena loved it. She wasn’t blood-related to any attendees, which was a definite plus, and yet she was surrounded by family.

Eliza and Martha were there, and Nia and Jess. Lois and Clark had arrived first, with two-year-old Jonathan in tow. Sam and Ruby were next, closely followed by James Olsen, who had flown in from his hometown just for the party, and Alex and Kelly. J’onn arrived a few minutes late.

The party was not without its surprises.

The first surprise, as everyone arrived, was that J’onn had taken his ship to Argo and picked up Alura. Kara had almost cried when she saw her mother— she saw her every few months now, but she still got emotional every time— and had actually cried when Alura handed over her gifts— two crimson blankets, the color of the House of El, and several books written in Kara’s native Kryptonese with Kryptonian legends and histories to read to their children. Alura had then proven she was a true Kryptonian by disappearing into the kitchen to try all of Eliza and Martha’s food, though she swore it was only because she wanted to learn more about Earth food.

The second surprise was the delivery of a package from Cat Grant. Kara just gasped as she unwrapped two matching empty baby books and, oddly, a used collection of nursery rhymes. Inside the front cover, Cat had written a note— this was the book she read to both of her boys, who were now grown, and she hoped Lena and Kara could use them for their children. Kara cried again.

The third surprise of the day was Brainy arriving with their friends from the Legion. Winn had been the first through the door, practically tackling Kara in a hug as he repeatedly exclaimed, “I can’t believe you laid EGGS!” Kara giggled and picked him up in a bear hug like he weighed nothing, excitedly showing him the eggs where they were tucked in their basket nearby. Winn was followed by Mon-El and Imra Ardeen and, to everyone’s surprise, their two-year-old son, Paris.

Lena imagined no other baby shower guest list included both mothers’ exes— Mon-El for Kara and James for Lena _and_ Kara— but that was just how their odd little family worked.

Paris and Jonathan had immediately hit it off, as only toddlers can, and they were toddling around the apartment with fifteen-year-old Ruby hot on their tails. Clark and Mon-El watched from a distance, both sitting at the end of the dining room table with heaping plates of food, looking slightly awkward surrounded by pastel streamers.

Lena sat on the sofa, sandwiched between Lois and Sam, listening as Lois and Imra discussed life with toddler boys and Sam interjected on occasion with things she remembered from when Ruby was that age. Lena giggled at them, slightly tipsy from the champagne punch she held in her hand.

“Hey, don’t laugh, it’ll be you next,” Sam warned her, prodding her in the side with a sharp elbow.

“And you get two at a time,” Lois added.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Lena told them, taking another sip, and she wasn’t lying. Ever since she had seen the babies on Alex’s DEO ultrasound machine, it was as if something inside her had flipped and she was oddly calm. She was ready to meet her children, outside of the shells, to watch them grow into adorable toddlers and little people and see what traits they inherited from her and what they got from Kara. She wanted to hold them and teach them to walk and chase them around like Ruby was chasing Jonathan and Paris, the way her biological mother had played with her.

“Okay, it’s game time!” Nia announced brightly, and everyone groaned in unison. “What? I’ve divided everyone into teams and…”

Lena was briefly distracted by Alex’s phone buzzing. She watched as Alex excused herself to the kitchen before taking another sip of her drink and exchanging a look with Kara— it figured that a DEO emergency would interrupt their baby shower.

“So it’s a relay, and each person takes a turn,” Nia was explaining. She held up two baby dolls in one hand, each one dangling perilously by one foot. “You have to take off the diaper and put on another one as fast as possible…”

“Kelly!” Alex hissed from the kitchen, followed by a _come here_ gesture. Kelly rose from the sofa with a confused expression. Lena glanced at Kara again, and her wife shrugged.

“But you each have to do it BLINDFOLDED!” Nia concluded excitedly, holding up two black sleep masks in the hand that wasn’t holding the dolls. Everyone groaned again. “Come on, you guys, it’ll be fun!”

“Oh my god!” Kelly exclaimed from the kitchen. “Really? Is this really happening?”

“Shh!” Alex whispered. “Sorry, what was that? We can come now? Oh, right now? Oh… Oh my god, okay… Yes… Yes, we can, of course…”

Everyone’s attention had turned away from Nia and was now focused on the couple huddled in the kitchen, but Alex and Kelly were entirely focused on Alex’s cell phone. Alex exchanged a few more words with whomever was on the other end of the line before disconnecting and looking up at her wife with a shell-shocked expression.

“Oh my god,” she repeated for what felt like the hundredth time in the last few minutes.

“My thoughts exactly,” Kelly agreed.

“So… um… not to interrupt,” Kara interjected.

“Smooth, love,” Lena murmured, and Lois poked her in the ribs.

“But care to share with the class?” Kara continued, ignoring her wife.

Alex looked around with wide eyes, as if she had forgotten where she was for a minute. “Um, well… That was the adoption agency.”

“Holy crap!” Nia exclaimed excitedly.

“There’s a teenage mom who’s decided to give up her two-month-old for adoption,” Kelly continued for Alex. “She picked our profile out because we marked that we were willing to have an open adoption, and that we’re experienced with aliens. Apparently the biological dad, who’s not in the picture, might’ve been an alien.”

“She’s at the adoption center,” Alex said. “We can go right now and do the paperwork and…”

“We can bring the baby home tonight!” Kelly exclaimed excitedly. “We’re going to be moms!”

“I’m going to be a grandmother!” Eliza exclaimed from the kitchen.

That seemed to break the tension. Shouts of congratulations filled the air and everyone rushed to hug the couple. Lena pulled Kelly into a tight embrace while Kara shared a tearful hug with Alex.

“You just had to have a kid before me, huh?” Kara tried to joke.

“It’s a big sister thing, what can I say?” Alex replied just as tearfully.

“We hate to leave a party early, but we have to get to the adoption agency and fill out the paperwork,” Kelly said. “And then we have to make sure we have everything we need for a baby. I mean we’ve got the big items already, the furniture and stuff, because we’ve been waiting for this call for so long but we need to make sure we have the right kind of diapers and bottles and formula and the right size clothes and…”

“Okay, calm down,” Lena soothed, flipping the script for once with her sister-in-law. “You just text us whatever you need when you get there, and Kara and I can get a few things together while you guys fill out paperwork. We’ll get enough to at least get you through the first few days until you guys can go shopping for the things you want. And I’m buying, no arguments.”

Kelly looked like she was about to argue, but Alex had already started pulling her away. They quickly grabbed their things and dragged Eliza along with them as they headed out the door.

The shower was essentially over after that, Nia’s party games blessedly forgotten. They stored away what remained of the food, sending some guests home with plates laden with leftovers. Brainy left with Mon-El and his family— Lena heard Mon-El whisper an earnest “I’m so happy for you, Kara,” into her wife’s ear as they hugged goodbye— but Winn decided to stay in the past a while longer, to meet Alex and Kelly’s child, and hopefully meet the babies when they hatched. The guests who could fly began helping Nia remove the decorations, much to her disappointment, and Lois volunteered to accompany Kara and Lena to shop for baby items while the others looked after Jonathan, who was curled up napping on one end of the sofa, and the eggs.

**********  
“I can’t believe how tiny she is.”

Lena looked up from where she and Kelly were folding pink onesies to see Kara cradling her niece in her arms. Sophia Louise Danvers-Olsen was an absolute doll, from her chubby little cheeks and dark brown eyes, to her smooth amber skin and bow-shaped lips. Kelly had immediately put a pink head wrap around her thin dark curls, and Alex had wrapped swaddled her in a blanket Eliza had knit by hand.

“Emily said she had gained over a pound since she was born,” Kelly told them, referring to Sofia’s birth-mother.

“Devarians are typically small in stature,” Alex supplied, referring to the suspected species of the baby’s alien father.

“I still don’t understand how she didn’t know she was having sex with a Devarian,” Kara speculated.

“Why? Do they not look human?” Lena asked.

“Well, they look mostly human,” Alex replied, stroking her daughter’s forehead. “They’re kind of… golden. Skin, hair, eyes, all gold. It’s close enough to human skin tone to pass but not exactly natural-looking, if you know what I mean.”

Lena nodded in understanding.

“Yeah, but, that’s not exactly what I’m referring to,” Kara said with a slightly sheepish expression.

Kelly and Lena looked at her with confused expressions and Alex rolled her eyes.

“Well, what are you referring to?” Lena asked.

“Yes, sweetie, I’m curious as well,” Eliza said, emerging from the hallway with another basket full of baby clothes to be folded.

Kara flushed scarlet. “Well, um…”

“Yes, Kara, tell our wives and our mother exactly what you were referring to,” Alex teased, because she clearly knew what Kara was talking about.

“Well, male Devarians have abnormally large… you know… especially for something of their stature,” Kara stammered.

Eliza clapped a hand over her mouth to hold in her giggles. Lena flashed Alex and Kelly a teasing look and then turned to her wife.

“I’m sorry, Kara, I didn’t quite understand you,” she said drolly.

“Lena!” Kara exclaimed in a false whisper so she didn’t wake the sleeping baby in her arms.

“I’m sorry, darling, but you know you have to speak in clear, anatomical terms to me,” Lena told her. “You’re in a room of doctors, darling, we’re all professionals.”

Kara murmured something in Kryptonian that Lena understood as a mild curse word. “Male Devarians have abnormally large penises. There, I said it, happy now?”

Kelly and Alex burst into giggles, and Eliza joined in. Lena raised a brow at her wife.

“And how exactly do you know about the size of a Devarian’s penis, love?” she asked.

Kara began sputtering so hard that Alex took the baby from her arms, and Lena finally joined into the laughter at her wife’s expense. She abandoned the pink baby leggings she was folding to cross the room and take a seat in Kara’s lap, wrapping her arms around the embarrassed Kryptonian and pressing a kiss to her red cheek.

“Just teasing, my love,” she said softly.

Kara buried her face in Lena’s hair until her cheeks returned to their normal color. Finally she slid Lena off her legs and onto the sofa beside her.

“Hmph,” she grunted. “Just for that, you get to change the first diapers when these two finally hatch.”

Lena chuckled and reached out to stroke the top of the eggs where they sat at one end of the sofa.

“Okay, Auntie Lena’s turn,” Alex declared.

“Oh, no, that’s fine,” Lena insisted even as Alex bent over to place her niece into her arms.

“Don’t freak out, just make sure you support her head,” Alex instructed.

“Consider it practice,” Eliza told her.

“You have held a baby before, right?” Kelly asked.

“She held Jonathan when he was a baby,” Kara replied.

“Yeah, but he wasn’t this tiny,” Lena said, cuddling the baby girl close.

“He was a little older when Clark and Lois came back from Argo,” Kara conceded. “Plus, he’s always been a solid little chunk.”

Sophie opened her eyes and blinked drowsily up at Lena before yawning and nuzzling closer to her chest and cooing contentedly as she fell back to sleep. Lena stared down at the tiny girl in awe.

“See, you’re a natural,” Kara assured her, resting her chin on Lena’s shoulder.

“I can’t believe she’s actually here,” Kelly said from where she sat on the opposite sofa. Alex sat down beside her and Kelly wrapped her arms around her waist.

“Finally,” she said in agreement as she nuzzled into her wife.

“I can’t wait for our babies to hatch,” Kara said excitedly. “Our kids are gonna be best friends, just like Alex and I were, just wait and see.”

“I hope they’re not exactly like you and Alex, for all our sakes,” Eliza said, taking a seat and pulling one of the eggs into her lap. “Jeremiah and I were either worried you two were going to kill each other because you hated each other or burn the house down with your high jinks.”

“Well, we have a little while to prepare before they’re old enough for that,” Kelly said.

“True,” Eliza said, looking back and forth between the two couples. “I’m even more excited to see my girls become mothers, and to get to experience it together. It’s the most amazing thing you’ll ever do, believe me.”

Kara scooted over on the sofa to hug her adoptive mother, whose eyes had grown a little teary.

“Love you, Eliza,” Kara said softly. “And thank you.”

“For what?” Eliza asked.

Kara looked at her with a soft, solemn smile. “For giving me a family. I wouldn’t be sitting here with my sister and her wife and daughter, with my wife and children, if you and Jeremiah hadn’t taken me in. So thank you for… for everything.”

“I would do it again in a heartbeat, my darling girl,” Eliza assured her before pulling her into a teary hug.

“And don’t forget, Kara, you had a part in this too,” Alex piped up. “I never would’ve put on that form that I was comfortable adopting a child that was alien or part alien if you weren’t part of our family. Sophie wouldn’t be ours if not for that.”

“I guess it’s coming full circle, in a way,” Kara said, releasing Eliza and pressing a kiss to her niece’s forehead.

**********  
Their apartment was empty when they returned home later that night. Kara tucked the eggs into their basket and began preparing for bed while Lena took a look around the apartment. Nia and their guests had mostly cleaned up and returned everything to its proper place, though Lena straightened a few pictures and knickknacks to make it perfect. Their dining room table was still covered with gifts, mostly books as they had requested.

“We never did get around to opening our presents,” she said wistfully as Kara came back into the room, wearing a satin nightie that was a far cry from her usual long pants and button up.

“No, I guess we were a little distracted,” her wife replied, wrapping her arms around Lena’s waist. “Come to bed. We’ll go through these in the morning.”

“I will, in just a minute,” Lena replied, turning her head to press a kiss to Kara’s jaw.

Kara released her and disappeared back down the hallway. A moment later Lena heard water running and the sound of Kara brushing her teeth.

She looked through the piles of books, with a few other items scattered throughout— matching onesies with the House of El crest printed on the front from Lois and Clark, a baby monitor from the future from Imra and Mon-El that Lena would probably end up disassembling and reassembling to investigate its components before it was used, and a framed photo of her and Kara with the phrase _Our Moms are Super_ emblazoned across the bottom from Alex and Kelly. Finally she uncovered a small package wrapped in shiny, silver wrapping paper with an immaculate white bow on top. There was no name on it, and no card anywhere near it to say who it was from.

“Kara, do you remember who brought this?” she called as she carefully slipped her finger beneath the edge of the wrapping. The gift was heavy, but the paper was thin and tore away easily. Inside was a small jewelry box with two L’s etched into the top.

“Which one?” Kara asked, appearing at Lena’s side with a burst of speed. She looked down at the paper and froze. “Lena… that’s lead wrapping paper. It’s the same stuff Jeremiah and Eliza used to use to wrap my Christmas gifts.”

That didn’t surprise Lena, who now had a strong suspicion of who had sent the gift. She flicked open the clasp holding the jewelry box closed.

“Kara, you should go to the other room in case it’s Kryptonite,” she said softly.

Kara’s eyes widened. “But what if it’s something that can hurt _you_?”

“I’ll be fine,” Lena assured her.

“Well, then I will be too,” Kara declared, crossing her arms over her chest.

Lena wanted to argue, but she knew her wife well enough to know it was useless. She opened the box slowly, revealing two silver lockets inside. They were small, each engraved with a swirling capital L. Lena removed one from the case and turned it over in her hands. It appeared plain, but she knew that couldn’t be the case. When she opened it, a soft blue light pulsed from inside. She immediately shut it and looked at Kara.

“What did it do?” she asked, expecting that it had some effect on Kryptonians but not on humans.

“Nothing,” Kara said, brow crinkled. “Open it again.”

She peered over Lena’s shoulder as she opened the locket again. The pale blue light lit up Kara’s eyes for a few moments before Lena closed it.

“Oh my god,” Lena murmured. “I know what it is.”

Kara nodded. “But who sent it?”

Lena placed the pendant back into the case and closed it with a hard click. “My mother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I said no angst and no cliffhangers. I’m a horrible liar.  
What do you guys think Lillian sent the twins?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena confronts Lillian. Her worst fears are realized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, just pretend Crisis never happened and Kara didn’t see Lex alive after Lena shot him. Okay? Basically he’s just been laying low and waiting for Lena to be at her happiest to strike.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

Lena fastened her earring and held in a sigh. Kara had asked her the same question at least five times as she got dressed that morning, and every time the answer was the same.

“Kara, my love, sit down,” she said, her tone thick with forced patience.

Kara sat on the edge of the bed. She was still dressed in her silk nightie, hair in wild blonde waves around her face, and was cradling an egg in each arm. They were larger now than when Kara first had them, Lena could clearly see that now, a little more awkward to carry, but Kara hadn’t put them down since they received Lillian’s gift, not even to put them in the basket they usually stayed in.

“First of all, I’m not putting the eggs anywhere near my mother or a prison, and with your protective maternal hormones raging I don’t see you putting them down for more than a second,” Lena said, crossing the room to slip on her heels. “Second, going in with guns blazing or, in your case, eyes or muscles or whatever, will not make my mother talk. She loves to provoke you with her words, Kara, it’s like a sport to her. If you go with me, she’ll never tell us anything.”

Kara looked down at the eggs in her arms. “I know, I know. I just… I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Kara, I own the prison,” Lena said. “Obviously security isn’t tip top if my mother managed to make those lockets and get them out, but I’ll be addressing that as well.” She glanced over at her pouting wife and sighed. “Look, I’m wearing the beacon watch, if that makes you feel any better, and I swear I’ll press it if anything looks even the slightest bit like it’s going sideways, alright? But I need to do this. Now… How do I look?”

Kara looked up and her blue eyes raked over Lena from head to toe. Lena was wearing one of her sharpest suits, navy pinstripes with sharp shoulders and a crisp white blouse underneath. Her hair was pinned up in a tight updo, and gold earrings glittered in her ears. Her makeup was spotless as well, save for her lipstick— she had her deepest shade of crimson tucked into her bag to apply once she was in the car.

“You look ready for battle,” Kara said with a smirk. “And really, really hot.”

Lena grinned in response and stepped closer to her wife. “No wrinkles.”

Kara let the eggs rest on either side of her and wrapped her arms around Lena’s waist, pulling her close.

“I know you can handle your mother,” she said into Lena’s stomach. “You’re so strong, in a totally different way than me, and I know that, I _love_ that about you. I just…”

“You love me, and you worry,” Lena said softly. “I know. I feel the same way every time you put on the suit and cape and go fight some alien that could knock you into next week. But I also know that you wouldn’t be the woman I love without your drive to protect the world. So let me go and protect our children, please. I can’t slam my mother into a wall, no matter how cathartic that might be, but I know how she ticks. I can find out what she knows.”

“I know you can,” Kara said, looking up at her. “I’m going to take the eggs and go see Alex and Kelly and little Sophie. So if you need me…”

Lena tapped at the cover of the beacon watch Kara had given her so many years ago. It had seen better days— the leather was worn, and the glass was scratched— but Lena couldn’t find it in herself to update it to anything newer or more stylish.

“I’ll call you, I promise,” she said, bending to kiss her wife soundly.

As she pulled away and grabbed her bag, she could practically feel Kara’s eyes on her backside. And if she put a little extra sway in her step, no one could blame her.

“Hey, Lena?” Kara said, her voice cracking.

“Yes, darling?” she replied over her shoulder.

“Hurry back,” Kara told her. “I might have Alex keep the eggs for a few hours, so I have time to get you out of that suit properly.”

Lena just chuckled as she stepped into the elevator.

**********

Lena did not intend to own a prison. It certainly wasn’t something her financial advisors encouraged her to do. The ethics of privately-owned prisons aside, it did have its perks, mainly her ability to keep Lillian Luthor under her thumb during her life stay in the penitentiary. Lena had implemented several rehabilitation programs for other prisoners— psychological evaluations and treatment, education services, return-to-work programs, she even had prisoners training service dogs— but her main goal was personally monitoring her mother’s actions.

Obviously she hadn’t done a very good job.

Her mother was waiting in one of the sterile visitation rooms when she arrived, a chess set on the table in front of her, as if it hadn’t been years since Lena had visited her. Lillian Luthor hadn’t changed much— there were a few streaks of gray in her immaculately-styled hair, perhaps a few more crinkles at the corners of her eyes. She sat ramrod straight, arms folded on the steel table in front of her comfortably as if this was a regular social call in the parlor of the Luthor mansion.

“Hello, Mother,” Lena said softly as she entered.

“Hello, Lena, darling,” Lillian replied, her tone showing no surprise that Lena had shown up for a visit after ignoring her for years. “Would you care for a game?”

Lena slid into the seat across from her mother with no more conversation. The white side of the board was toward her, so she made her first move, and Lillian followed suit. After several minutes of silence, Lena knew she had made the right choice in telling Kara to stay home— her wife simply didn’t have the patience for this sort of thing. The thought made her lips quirk.

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Lillian asked.

“Just thinking about my wife,” Lena said, allowing her smile to overtake her face.

Lillian just frowned. “Yes, I heard about that. I take it you didn’t receive my wedding gift.”

“Oh, no, we received it,” Lena replied. “Why do you think I haven’t visited since before the wedding? But I’d hardly call a Kryptonite-infused bomb a wedding present. Hence why you didn’t receive a thank you note, either.”

Lillian shrugged nonchalantly, as if sending explosives to her daughter’s wedding was something every mother of the bride did. Lena moved another pawn and sat back in her chair.

“I thought I had improved security in this place since then, but apparently I was wrong,” she said, getting to the heart of the matter.

“Oh, so you did receive my baby gift,” Lillian said, taking Lena’s pawn with her rook. “I thought as much when I was banned from my lab this morning.”

“That lab was a privilege,” Lena reminded her. “It seemed a waste for a mind like yours to spend its days rotting in prison. I gave you that lab so you could continue your work in prosthetics, not so you could continue your research into xenobiology.”

“You know you could just say thank you,” Lillian said glibly.

“Thank you?” Lena sputtered.

Lillian withdrew her hands from over the chess board. “Yes, thank me. I took your Kryptonite-shield technology and made it into something subtle and child-sized so your offspring with that alien would be safe. I don’t think a little gratitude is out of the question.”

Lena frowned as she looked down at the chess board. Her mother had baited her, both with her words and in the game— Lillian was three moves away from a checkmate. Lena moved her rook defensively.

“I am curious,” Lillian continued as she moved her bishop across the board. “Are the babies biologically yours or hers? Of one each?”

“Both, actually,” Lena replied, maneuvering her knight. “They’re both biologically half mine and half Kara’s.”

Lillian glanced up at her, checking to see if she was jesting, before taking her pawn. “Now I’m really curious. How did you manage that? Cloning?”

Lena smirked. “We did it the old fashioned way.”

Lillian’s hand jerked so hard that she knocked over her own queen. “Don’t be vulgar.”

“You asked,” Lena said, making another move. “Check.”

Lillian peered down at the board with a raised brow before moving. Lena countered her.

“Check,” Lena said again. “Why?”

“Why what?” Lillian questioned as she moved again.

“Why did you make the lockets?” Lena asked. “Why make something to protect my children when you clearly can’t stand Kara or any alien for that matter?”

Lillian folded her hands delicately and looked at Lena as if she were explaining a simple concept to a child. “Because they’re Luthors.”

Lena froze, halfway through her move. “Is that all?”

“Do I need a better reason?” Lillian asked. “In spite of you not being my child by blood, I do consider you mine, and that makes these my grandchildren. There are no bastards coming out of the woodwork claiming Lex as their father, so your children will be the only progeny I leave behind. I would hate for anything to harm them.”

“And you think someone might harm them?” Lena asked.

This time it was Lillian that froze, and above her king. The color fled from her face, leaving her looking far older than she had appeared when Lena entered the room. “I didn’t say that.”

“No, but you implied it,” Lena said. “You know something, Mother. Spit it out.”

Lillian moved her king. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Like hell,” Lena spat, making her own move. “Checkmate.”

Lillian stared at the board in front of her as if it held the answers she needed. Then, slowly, she reached for the breast pocket of her prison uniform and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

“I received this a month ago,” she said, passing the paper across the table to Lena.

Lena unfolded the paper— thick cardstock— to see a cartoon image of a stork with the words _Congratulations Grandma_ underneath. She opened the card to find the cliche poem inside scratched out with deeply etched pen strokes and a short, written message at the bottom.

_Just call me Uncle Lex_

“That’s not possible,” Lena said, closing the card quickly. “Lex is dead.”

“It’s his handwriting, Lena,” Lillian insisted. “I may have been a lackadaisical mother to you, but I taught my son to write myself. I’d know his handwriting anywhere, and so would you.”

“It may look like his, but it’s _not_ his,” Lena replied. “Lex is dead.”

“They never found a body—“ Lillian began.

“They never found a body because I killed him myself,” Lena hissed.

The empty room was silent for a long moment. Then, almost faster than Lena could see, Lillian stood and pulled her hand back, slapping Lena across the face. Lena pushed herself back from the table, out of her mother’s reach, but she refused to reach up and show her pain, though she was certain her cheek was fiery red. Lillian stood, teeth bared in fury, before slumping back into her seat, face falling.

“I hope to God that you never have to sit across the table from the person who killed your child,” Lillian said stiffly. “He turned into a psychopath, I know that as well as anyone, but at one point… He was my baby.”

Lena steeled herself, her own dreams of monstrous children coming to mind. She pulled her seat back to the table.

“For what it’s worth, he was once my brother as well,” she said softly. “But he’s gone. I saw him die. There’s no way he wrote this.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Lillian said, picking her head up. She barked out a laugh. “Don’t you see? He’s fooled you again.”

“That’s not possible,” Lena repeated.

“Lex has always defied possibilities,” Lillian replied. “That’s why I gave you those lockets. And that’s why I’m warning you now. A mother should never have to bury her child.”

Lena grabbed the card from the table and tucked it into her own pocket before standing.

“Thank you for your help, Mother,” she said briskly, turning away. “I’ll have your access to your lab reinstated once I’ve had it cleared of anything not related to your current prosthetic research.” She turned back to the table once before she opened the doors. “And just so you know, if you or Lex or anyone else tries to harm my children, I will kill them.”

“I would expect nothing less,” Lillian replied.

**********

When Kara flew through the window four hours later, she found Lena frantically stuffing clothes into a suitcase.

“Whoa, hey, what are you doing?” she asked, placing the eggs in their carrier down on the bed.

“I’m packing,” Lena said quickly. “We’re going on a baby-moon.”

“A what?” Kara asked as Lena rushed past her with another arm full of clothing. She wasn’t even taking time to fold— a huge red flag.

“A baby-moon,” Lena replied. “Apparently it’s like a honeymoon, but instead of after the wedding, couples take a trip right before they have a baby. Hence, baby-moon.”

“So we’re just taking off?”

Lena huffed impatiently. “Yes, Kara. I’ve already spoken to Sam about her taking over my position earlier than expected, and I called Andrea on your behalf. We have about a week and a half before the babies hatch, according to Brainy’s calculations, so I think it’s best if we just take a bit of a break, that’s all.”

“That’s all?” Kara asked.

“Yes, that’s all,” Lena said, dropping her toiletry bag into the suitcase.

“What did Lillian say?”

Lena tensed at the question, but gathered herself enough to answer.

“Shockingly enough, my mother wants to protect her grandchildren,” Lena said, standing back and looking into the suitcase to take stock of the mess she had packed. “Something about them being the only Luthor progeny or something to that effect.”

“So… Isn’t that a good thing?” Kara asked. “Lena, please, tell me what’s going on? What’s got you in such a panic?”

“I’m not panicking,” Lena argued.

“Your heart rate would beg to differ,” Kara commented.

Lena stood back and leveled Kara with a stony expression. She reached into her pocket and handed her the card she had taken from Lillian.

“My mother received this a month ago,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “Read it.”

Kara scanned the few words on the card quickly, her own expression turning dark, then confused. “But… Lex is dead. You told me that you—“

“I know, and I did,” Lena replied. She sat on the foot of the bed beside the suitcase. “It nearly ruined me to do it, but I did, so that you would be safe, so that I would be safe. And I thought it meant that our children would be safe. I’ve been telling myself for the last month that he was dead, but between this and that robot…”

“What about the robot?” Kara asked.

Lena swallowed hard. She hadn’t told Kara her concerns, hadn’t wanted to worry her. “I examined the robot myself, while you were recovering. I know Lex’s work as well as I know my own and there were certain things… Let’s just say, he might as well have signed his name in permanent ink on the thing, okay?”

Now it was Kara’s turn to swallow hard. “So you’ve known for… over a month now that Lex is still alive?”

“I didn’t think it was possible,” Lena said. “I shot him, Kara! I watched him die! How could he possibly be alive? So I was trying to find any other explanation but now… now this, and I just…”

“You should’ve told me,” Kara said softly.

Lena’s shoulders hunched. “I know. It’s just… You’ve had so much on your shoulders, and I know your hormones are still raging, and I just…”

Kara sat beside her and pulled her wife into her arms. “I know. Believe me, I understand the reasoning better than anyone. But you’ve been carrying this on your own, when we could’ve been figuring it out together, we could’ve had Alex and Brainy and the DEO looking into it.”

Lena sniffed. “I’m an idiot.”

“Smartest one I know,” Kara agreed, and Lena chuckled in spite of herself. “So… What do you think Lex’s next move is, if he is alive?”

“I don’t know,” Lena admitted. “I don’t know and it kills me. I’m just afraid he’ll come for us and for the eggs.”

“Okay, so your first instinct was to get the hell out of Dodge?” Kara asked.

“Pretty much,” Lena replied. “Even if it’s not Lex, maybe… Maybe we just need to get out of National City. Not just for safety, but for us. To get away from everything Luthor and Super for a little while before the babies are here.”

“So… a baby-moon?”

“Pretty sure most people’s baby-moon doesn’t involve hiding from psychopathic relatives,” Lena said.

“True, but we’re not exactly most people,” Kara agreed. She pressed a kiss to Lena’s temple. “So let’s get Alex and the DEO up to speed about your suspicions about Lex, and we’ll find a place where the two of us, and the eggs, can go and get away from it all while she investigates.”

“Won’t that kill you to be out of the loop?” Lena asked.

“I trust my sister,” Kara said firmly. “And my place is with you and our babies.”

“Thank you,” Lena said, pressing a kiss to her wife’s cheek. They sat like that for a long minute before Kara sighed.

“Okay, let’s take a step back and plan to leave first thing in the morning,” she said. “I’ll call Alex. You… well, you go through all this stuff and actually make sure we have everything we need for wherever you’ve decided we should go, because I can’t imagine anywhere we’re gonna need parkas and swimsuits at the same time.”

Lena blushed. “I may have gotten a little carried away.”

“You do tend to do that,” Kara said, wrapping her arms around her wife one more time. “Calm down. Breathe. We’re not gonna let anything hurt us, or our babies, ever. Do you hear me?”

“I hear you,” Lena said. “And for what it’s worth, I am sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“We’re gonna be okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All on board the angst train! This is not where I saw this story going AT ALL when I started it, but boy has it taken me for a ride!  
We’ve got a baby-moon-slash-safehouse coming up, more smut, the Lex confrontation, and the babies hatching, all before this thing is wrapped up. But I’m going back to work tomorrow, so I have no idea what my posting schedule will be.
> 
> Comments give me life!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The baby moon  
Pure fluff and smut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have literally had this chapter in mind since the moment I decided this wouldn’t be a one-shot, so I hope you all enjoy!

“I love this place.”

Kara’s voice pulled Lena’s consciousness back from nineteenth-century Russia to the present. She tucked her bookmark between the well-worn pages of her novel and looked over to where her wife was stretched out on the sand. She wore a white bikini that Lena had purchased for her own selfish enjoyment, leaving her toned abs and long legs on display as she sunbathed on a well-worn beach towel. The California sunlight gave Kara’s skin a soft golden glow, and Lena could already see brighter streaks in her blonde hair where the sunlight and salt-air bleached it. Her eyes challenged the Pacific for most vibrant shade of blue as she grinned happily.

“Me too,” Lena agreed from her seat under a wide beach umbrella. Unlike her wife, she had drenched herself in the most powerful SPF she could find in spite of having no intention of leaving the shade for more than a few minutes. Lena’s skin had two settings, white and blistering red, with no in between, and she did not want to return home looking like a tomato. She had let Kara pick out her swimsuit, in an act of fairness, and thankfully her wife had chosen something a bit more modest to suit Lena’s taste— an emerald green one-piece with a halter top that put her cleavage on display.

“I think it might be my favorite place in the whole world… no, in the whole galaxy… in the whole _universe_,” Kara said dramatically as she flopped over onto her stomach.

Lena chuckled at Kara’s antics, but she couldn’t help but agree. While Argo might’ve been safer from Lex, they were afraid that space travel— changes in gravity, air pressure— might harm the still-developing babies, so she had looked for a safe hideaway on Earth. Her main motive for getting away had been safety, but she had chosen this place because it was special to them as well.

“Do you think we’ll bring the kids here someday?” Kara asked dreamily, her voice slightly muffled by the ocean breeze and the fact that she was still lying face-down on her towel.

“I hope so,” Lena said, glancing over to where the eggs sat beside her in a laundry basket— _because we can’t take the basket from Argo onto the beach, Kara, we’ll never get the sand out_.

Kara chuckled. “We’ll need a bigger shack.”

Lena gasped in mock offense. “It is not a shack! It’s a cottage.”

“Well, cottage, shack, whatever, it only has one bedroom,” Kara replied.

Lena hated to admit that Kara was right, but she had her there. The cottage— okay, it really wasn’t much more than a surf shack— was owned by some of Lois’s cousins. It had no affiliation with Lena or Kara’s names, which was another reason she had decided it was a perfect place to lay low. The original bungalow was quite old, but the owners had renovated it while keeping its original charm. The outside was painted a brilliant turquoise, with a gleaming metal roof, and inside it was a tiny oasis perfect for a couple’s retreat, though perhaps not for a family of four.

“Well, we can always get a larger beach house for family vacations,” Lena contemplated as she sipped on a bottle of water. “Maybe something nearby. That way when they’re older we can bring them here and show them where their moms got engaged, hmm?”

Kara looked up with a shit-eating grin. “So you plan on showing them the bedroom and giving them the full rundown, huh?”

“Oh, you!” Lena exclaimed, looking around for something she could use as a weapon. She ended up shaking her open water bottle, splashing its contents over Kara’s face and bare back.

Kara sputtered for a moment before gathering her wits and shouting, “Now you’re in for it!”

Fast as lighting she had Lena swept from the chair and in a bridal carry, making a mad dash for the ocean.

“Kara Luthor-Danvers don’t you dare! OOF!” Lena shouted as she was tossed into the cold blue waves. She came up sputtering and dripping wet to see her wife bent over double with laughter. “You’ve done it now!”

“Oooo, such a scary Luthor out to get a Super— AHH!” Kara cried as Lena splashed her.

**********

Later that night, after all the sand and salt was washed from their skin and their bellies were full of takeout pad Thai, Lena stared at herself in the mirror with narrowed eyes, silk robe loosened so she can examine her shoulders.

“I swear, if I end up sunburned because of you, I might actually kill you,” she said, pressing into the skin of her shoulder and watching as the skin fades to white beneath the pressure.

“You’re not going to end up sunburned from ten minutes of playing in the water,” Kara assured her, wrapping her arms around her waist from behind. “Mmm, you smell good.”

“I still smell like sunscreen,” Lena huffed.

Kara just buried her face further into Lena’s neck, sniffing the skin there before placing soft kisses to the bend. She kissed all the way to the shoulder Lena had been examining before baring her teeth and giving the skin there a light nip.

“You taste good too,” she murmured, returning to kissing.

Lena smiled softly and turned in her wife’s embrace, reaching up to drape her arms around broad shoulders covered only by a silk robe that matched her own.

“Do I get a taste too?” she asked breathily.

Kara didn’t reply, just pressed their lips together. Their kisses were languid and soft, each wet slide of lips and tongue slowly stroking the glowing embers that Lena always felt in Kara’s presence. Kara walked them back toward the bed slowly, lips never leaving hers, only pulling away once the backs of Lena’s knees touched the mattress. She reached down and flipped on the portable red-sun lamp before pushing Lena’s robe from her shoulders and shrugging her own to the floor.

Lena looked down Kara’s body with hungry eyes, reaching up to run her fingertips over the abs she had been admiring all day, the golden skin only made more brilliant by the sunlight. Her hands paused at the lacy hem of Kara’s underwear, recognizing the particular pair.

“I don’t remember packing these,” she murmured, running her finger down until she reached the reinforced slit in the front. She pressed her fingertip through the opening and over Kara’s slick skin, teasing through her folds. Before she could go further, Kara reached down and gently grabbed her wrist.

“I packed a few things you don’t know about,” Kara said, pulling her hand away. “Lie back for me, baby.”

The husky tone of Kara’s voice sent shivers through Lena’s body. She did as Kara asked, but only after she brought her wet finger to her lips and licked it clean. Kara’s eyes raked over her body as she scooted up on the bed until her head was resting on the pillows. She laid back and looked up with a questioning expression.

“Well? You gonna join me?” she asked.

Kara just hummed in response as she knelt on the bed. She crawled over Lena and held her body suspended there for a long moment before Lena gave into her own urges. She reached up with both hands and cupped Kara’s cheeks, pulling her down into a kiss. Kara groaned into her mouth at her impatience, but she didn’t pull back, just deepened the kiss, parting her lips and pressing into Lena’s mouth with her tongue. Her hands weren’t idle either; as her tongue stroked into Lena’s mouth she held her weight with one hand while the other traced down her body, stopping for just a moment to cup her breast before seeking lower. She pressed her palm flat into Lena’s stomach and then slipped it beneath the waistband of her satin panties.

Lena gasped at the first touch of Kara’s fingertips against her wet flesh. “Kara!”

“You feel so good,” Kara murmured, lips trailing wet kisses over Lena’s cheek and down her neck as her fingers traced lower. Her touch was barely a whisper, tracing light circles around Lena’s clit but never making direct contact. Lena bucked her hips, trying to get Kara’s fingers where she really wanted them, but Kara just kept moving her fingers in the same pattern. Her mouth, however, descended lower and lower until she reached Lena’s breasts. Here she didn’t tease, and Lena cried out harshly as Kara pulled one nipple into her mouth, sucking roughly before laving her tongue gently over the pert flesh, and then she turned and gave the other breast the same treatment.

“Fuck, Kara,” Lena grunted, back arching as the Kryptonian moved down and sucked the skin just below her breast, hard enough that Lena felt a bite of pain and knew there would be a mark there the next day. Kara stopped her circling fingers and pulled her hand free from Lena’s underwear, drawing a desperate whine from the brunette.

“Told you I wanna taste you,” Kara said into her skin right before she dipped her tongue into Lena’s navel. Her hands reached for the sides of Lena’s panties and pulled them down. Lena kicked her leg furiously and the tan satin went flying off into the floor somewhere.

Lena felt like she was on fire as Kara stared at the apex of her thighs, but instead of a bright flare it was a slow, smoldering burn. Kara’s eyes were so dilated the blue was practically nonexistent and when she licked her lips, Lena couldn’t help but groan and spread her legs wider in response.

At the first slow swipe of Kara’s tongue against her center, Lena wasn’t sure if she would explode or melt. Kara’s tongue explored her folds as if she had never touched her before but was determined to lap up every bit of moisture Lena produced— and there was a lot. Lena’s hips bucked as Kara licked around her clit and then ventured lower, lapping lower at the source of her arousal before licking her way back up. She tried to press for more contact, but Kara’s hands were firm on her hips, holding her in place, and her lips and tongue, while relentless, were determinedly avoiding any movement that would actually send Lena over the edge.

“Kara, please,” she gasped after one maddening swipe across her clit.

“Not yet,” Kara murmured, kissing her thigh before moving away completely. The lower half of her face was shiny, and she wiped the moisture away with the back of her hand as she shuffled off the bed and toward the duffle bag beside the closet door.

Lena’s frustration melted slightly, replaced by curiosity as she propped herself up on her elbows in an attempt to see what Kara pulled out of the bag. When she saw a familiar flash of purple, she collapsed back onto the mattress and groaned. “God, yes.”

Kara was grinning as she crawled back onto the bed. “You like this one, huh?”

“You like it, too,” Lena told her. The toy in question was a double-ended dildo with ridges that were designed to stimulate the wearer’s clit, but Lena knew had just as powerful of an effect against the sensitive ridge of Kara’s sex.

Kara dropped the dildo and a bottle of lube onto the bed and reached for the hem of her underwear. “Just gotta…”

“Here,” Lena said, sitting up abruptly. The move brought her up almost in Kara’s face, and Kara jumped slightly before smiling sheepishly. Lena pushed Kara’s hands away and began tugging at the elastic waistband. “Let me.”

She pushed the specially-designed panties halfway down Kara’s thighs, revealing the glistening red skin beneath. Lena couldn’t help but drag her fingertips through her wetness, and Kara’s hips shook as she pressed into the spongy ridge of flesh there.

“You ready?” Lena asked, reaching for the dildo with the hand that wasn’t massaging Kara’s core. Kara just nodded, unable to form words as she gasped for breath. Lena didn’t pick up the lubricant. Instead she pulled her wet hand from between Kara’s legs and, as Kara was watching, swiped it between her own legs, coming out even more drenched than before. She stroked their combined fluids over the shorter end of the dildo until the silicone was slick and shiny, then she turned it and shuffled even closer to where Kara was kneeling.

As the silicone slid into her, Kara released a sound somewhere between a growl and a moan. Lena watched her face as she pressed the toy deeper, watched as her lips parted and her eyes fluttered shut as the ridges pressed into her most sensitive flesh. Finally, when it was positioned as it should be, Lena reached down and pulled the black panties up Kara’s muscular thighs, slipping the other end of the dildo through the ring at the front before smoothing the black lace into place. Finally she sat back on her heels to take in her handiwork.

“God, Kara,” she moaned, reaching out and running her still-slick hand up and down the length of the toy. Kara’s hips bucked and she made that inhuman sound again, and it sent reverberations down Lena’s spine straight to her clit.

This time it was Kara who grabbed Lena’s face and pulled her in for a kiss, and unlike before it wasn’t slow and languorous. Kara kissed Lena like she wanted to devour her, all desperation and biting need. She pushed Lena back onto the bed and pulled her legs up and out, and Lena went willingly, spreading herself wide beneath Kara’s hips. One of Kara’s hands moved beneath Lena’s back, reaching up to wrap around the back of Lena’s neck in a tight, bracing hold, and the other reached down between them to line the toy up to Lena’s center.

“You ready?” Kara asked, echoing Lena’s earlier question as she dragged the tip of the purple silicone through Lena’s wetness.

“Yes, god yes, please, Kara,” Lena gasped, kissing Kara again. She sucked in a deep breath as Kara’s hips eased forward. They’ve used this toy before, more than once, but Lena’s never quite prepared for the stretch as Kara sank into her body. She felt the ridges carved into the silicone as it pressed into her flesh, felt every shudder from Kara’s movements as she thrust slowly, driving in inch by glorious inch until the fabric of the panty-style harness pressed into Lena’s slick flesh. She felt Kara’s heat, both against her and inside her as the material was warmed by their mutual body heat, and she groaned at the sensation.

“Lena,” Kara whimpered against her lips, and the desperate sound made Lena’s hips shift involuntarily. The motion pushed the toy’s ridges into Kara and she moaned as well. “_Rao_, I love this. I love you.”

“I love you,” Lena gasped in reply. “Need you. Need you to move, please, ahh!”

Kara’s first few strokes were awkward, as she circled her hips to find just the right pressure for both of them, but then with a gasp and a high keening cry she found her rhythm and began pounding into Lena. Her hand at the back of Lena’s neck held on with a bruising grip, while her other hand moved to Lena’s knee, pulling it up higher and spreading Lena even wider beneath her. The motion sent the toy even deeper with each thrust and Lena cried out as she felt it battering inside her.

“So good, so _fucking good_,” Lena cried out as she arched her back so that each stroke hit the perfect point just inside her and each impact rubbed the fabric of Kara’s harness against her clit. She could feel the fire inside her growing higher and higher, burning and raging with each deep, stretching thrust. The sounds Kara made as she chased her own pleasure against the other end of the toy were like pouring gasoline on the flames.

“So close, Lena,” Kara gasped between thrusts, bending to bury her face in Lena’s neck.

“Yes, Kara, come inside me,” Lena shouted. “Come with me, come inside me, _oh_!”

It was an explosion, Lena decided. Her body detonated beneath Kara’s, starting at the place where they were joined and then blazing out through her like wildfire. White lights like fireworks exploded behind her eyelids, and for long moments all she could hear was the thudding of her own heart and Kara’s ragged breathing right beside her ear.

Kara bucked wildly above her, chasing the last of her pleasure against the ridges of the toy, until she froze still as a statue, her muscles taut with exertion. When Lena finally regained control of her limbs, she wrapped herself around Kara like a vine, holding her tight as the last aftershocks of her orgasm shuddered through her body. The movement caused the toy still inside Lena to shift slightly, and she felt her body tighten once again in a smaller but no-less satisfying rush that had her crying out into Kara’s shoulder. Afterward, Lena wasn’t sure how long the pleasure bounced back and forth between them, but it had to be long minutes later when Kara finally pulled herself free from Lena’s arms and the toy free from Lena’s center to collapse onto the mattress with an exhausted huff.

“_Rao_,” Kara sighed with pleasure. “If we didn’t already have the eggs, I’d say we just made a baby.”

Lena giggled mindlessly. “Hmm. Not again. Not yet, anyway. Maybe in a few years, when they’re older.”

She didn’t realize the momentum of her words until she felt Kara stiffen beside her.

“Really? You… You want more?” Kara asked breathlessly.

Lena turned her head to see Kara staring at her with a wide-eyed, hopeful expression. She bit her lip pensively and averted her eyes.

This wasn’t how she had planned on having this conversation.

Instead of replying, she sat up abruptly and reached down. Kara followed her movements, lifting her hips cooperatively as Lena slipped the harness-panty off her, groaning a bit as she gently eased the dildo from between her legs. Lena took the toy to the bathroom and washed it without a word.

When she returned, Kara had turned off the sun lamp. Her expression was still hopeful, but far more cautious. Lena slipped into the bed beside her wife and turned to face her, reaching for her hand, but then she decided that simply holding hands wasn’t enough contact for this conversation. She crawled over Kara and pressed their bodies flush until she was lying on top of the Kryptonian.

“I’m not saying I’m for sure,” she said finally, staring somewhere in the vicinity of Kara’s clavicles instead of at her face. “We still have a lot to learn and a lot to figure out once these babies hatch. We might decided that two is plenty once that happens. But, I’m just saying, if in a few years, maybe once they start school, we can definitely talk about having more. I’m… open to the idea if you are.”

She braved looking up into her wife’s eyes and was met with a beaming, tearful smile. Kara reached down and cupped her cheeks and pulled her up for a soft kiss and Lena could feel her happiness through each soft press of her lips.

“I love you so much,” Kara said when she pulled back. “I think that’s… a perfectly reasonable mindset.”

Lena chuckled. “I’m glad you agree.”

Kara ran her hands up and down Lena’s back in soothing circles, and Lena let herself relax into her wife’s embrace.

“What is it about this bed?” Kara mumbled speculatively. “We always end up having these deep, life-altering conversations in it.”

“We also have really amazing sex in it,” Lena commented.

Kara giggled beneath her. “True.”

They were both quiet for several long minutes, and between Kara’s body heat and her slow caresses Lena found herself slipping gradually into a doze.

“Lena?”

Kara’s voice pulled her back to consciousness. “Yes, darling?”

“I love this place,” Kara said drowsily. “And I love you.”

Lena smiled sleepily. “I do too, Kara. Love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God I love writing fluffy smutty Supercorp so much.
> 
> Now hold on to your britches, folks, because we’re back to horrible horrible angst for the next chapter.
> 
> Also, I’m thinking once this story is over I might go back and write a little prequel to this story. Not a whole narrative but a few chapters with the main moments of Lena and Kara getting together, including the proposal I referenced in this chapter. Comment to let me know what you guys think of this chapter and if you would be interested in reading a little prequel.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lex makes his move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry

The call came during breakfast. Lena had prepared them both omelettes, one for her and three for Kara, and Kara also had a stash of pastries for herself. They ate in bed on fresh sheets that Kara had replaced while Lena cooked, eggs between them, amidst a nest of plush blankets. Apparently, as the eggs got closer to hatching, Kara’s nesting instincts were returning. They were discussing names again. Though they were almost certain with their choices, Kara liked to bring up random ideas she had just to be sure Lena didn’t like those names any better.

Then the phone rang, interrupting their peaceful chatter. They had been on their baby-moon for four days, and in that time no one had tried to contact them. They had left their regular phones in National City so they couldn’t be tracked, only taking a DEO-issued burner phone for emergencies. Alex was the only person who knew how to reach them, and she would only call if there was an emergency or something happened in their search for Lex.

Kara’s eyes widened at the sound before she crossed the room in the blink of an eye. Lena pulled the eggs closer into her embrace instinctively, as if somehow a phone call could harm them.

“_Hello? Alex?_” Kara answered. “_Yeah… Oh, wow… Are you sure?... Oh my gosh… Yeah, yeah, I think that’s for the best… Good luck. See you then._”

Kara clicked to disconnect the phone and looked at Lena with a broad smile. “They got him!”

“Seriously?” Lena asked. “Are they sure?”

“Positive,” Kara nodded. “He tried to break into our apartment last night. The agents they had staying there caught him. They’ve done fingerprint scans, dental recognition, and DNA tests. It’s definitely him.”

Part of Lena wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. Another part of her held on to her anxiety— somehow this all seemed too easy.

“Did he say anything about how he managed to _not die_ when I shot him?” she asked.

“Alex said he’s refusing to talk at all,” Kara said with a frown. “She said he didn’t even say anything when the agents caught him and arrested him.”

Lena nodded. “Kara… He’s up to something. I don’t know what, but you know how he is.”

“I agree,” Kara said. “So does Alex. She suggested we stay here for a few more days. Maybe by then she can get him to crack.”

“I hope so,” Lena agreed.

They spent the rest of the day in their own little bubble. They moved their nest of blankets from the bed to the sofa in the living room and spent hours watching romcoms and Disney movies, trying to keep their minds off what was happening back home. When the evening rolled around, they prepared homemade pizzas and began flipping through the cable channels.

“Oh, go back, that was today’s stock market numbers!” Lena exclaimed as Kara flipped past a news station.

“Lena, you’re on vacation,” Kara admonished.

“Hey, don’t judge me for wanting to make sure that I’m making enough money to feed multiple Kryptonians and someday send two of them to college,” Lena scoffed, scanning the screen for L-Corp’s tag.

Suddenly the image on the screen changed back to two harried-looking newscasters.

“We’re receiving live footage from our sister station in National City,” the balding reporter said. “Lisa? Lisa are you there?”

The broadcast switched to what appeared to be a helicopter view, and the sound of rotating rudders and woman’s voice came through the speakers.

“Pat, we’re flying above National City where there appears to be multiple robots attacking a building near the city center,” the woman said. The camera zoomed in on the building in question.

“That’s the DEO,” Kara gasped.

“And those are Lex’s robots,” Lena said, recognizing the flying metal figures.

“Our records show that the building is registered as a research hub of the FBI,” the reporter continued. “The building appears to be under some kind of lock-down, and Superman along with several other heroes appear to be helping federal agents fight off the attacking robots.”

The camera zoomed in to show Superman blasting one of the robots with heat vision. It panned to show several others— Sam, Nia, Brainy, J’onn, even Mon-El and Imra were still there and suited up, along with Winn wearing the gaudiest silver and gold costume Lena had ever seen— and the DEO agents firing at the robots from multiple levels of the building as they tried to approach.

“They’re trying to break him out,” Lena said, heart pounding. “I knew he had to have a backup plan.”

One robot came close to the building and Superman flew to stop it, only to be hit by a red light emanating from its chest. He began to drop just as a green cloud began to form around the robot’s head.

“No!” Kara shouted, and as if on cue a blue beam from Nia’s oneirokinetic projections hit the robot from behind and knocked it away from Superman before the Kryptonite could hit his system.

Lena jumped up from the sofa and ran into the bedroom, heading for their suitcases.

“Lena?” Kara called after her.

“They need this,” Lena said, digging around beneath her dirty clothes. Finally she pulled out a small device the size of a computer mouse. “I made this based on Lex’s first robot. I only had time to make one so I brought it with us because I thought if he attacked again he would attack you. It releases an electromagnetic wave that will shut down the robots’ energy sources.”

She put the device in Kara’s hand and pointed to a small button on the side.

“Press and release this and as soon as it engages any robot within a hundred yard radius should drop,” Lena told her.

Kara looked from the device to Lena, then glanced back toward the sofa where the eggs were still wrapped in a blanket. “I can’t leave.”

“Lex is still in a cell at the DEO, and he has no idea where we are,” Lena said. “But if those robots manage to get him out, then we’ll just be looking over our shoulders until he comes after us again.”

“Are you sure?” Kara asked.

Lena turned from her and bent to dig through her suitcase again. Kara wasn’t the only one who had packed something without telling the other. She pulled a pistol from a compartment in the bottom of her suitcase and checked the chambers to make sure it was loaded.

“If anybody comes to mess with me or our babies, I can take care of it,” Lena assured her.

“Even if it’s Lex?” Kara asked.

“Even if it’s Lex,” Lena said. “I shot him once to defend my family. I’ll do it again. Hopefully it’ll stick this time.”

Kara’s brow crinkled in concern, but the television interrupted her thoughts.

“Superwoman is down!” the reporter exclaimed. “I repeat, after what appears to be a Kryptonite attack, Superwoman is down.”

“Sam,” Kara and Lena breathed at the same time, racing back to the living room. The television showed Sam in her purple and crimson uniform collapsed on cracked concrete, green veins popping out on her face and neck. J’onn and Brainy stood over her as DEO agents rushed to take her into the building for treatment.

“Go, Kara,” Lena ordered. “Don’t let him hurt our friends.”

“I’ll be back as soon as they’re gone,” Kara assured her. She pressed a quick kiss to Lena’s lips before tearing off her glasses and flying out the door as her suit materialized.

Lena breathed out a shaky breath and turned to the sofa. She needed to move the eggs further away from the door. She grabbed one— they were too large and awkward for her to carry at the same time now— and took it to the bedroom, tucking it beneath the bedcovers. When she returned to the living room the reporter was speaking again.

“Dreamer has downed another robot but by our count twenty-two remain,” the reporter said. “Wait, is that… Yes, Supergirl appears to be on the scene.”

Lena held her breath as Kara flew through the throng of robots, drawing their attention to her. They circled closer, and their chests began to glow red just as Kara raised her hand and pressed the button on the device Lena had given her.

Suddenly the television flickered and shut off. The ceiling fan slowed to a stop and Lena could suddenly hear the sound of the distant surf as the familiar hum of the appliances ceased. The lamp on the end table died and the room was suddenly awash the dim red light from the evening sunset.

Lena stood, eyes and pistol fixed on the door of the cottage. Suddenly a thump sounded from the bedroom and she turned, moving quickly for a better angle to look through that doorway, but the bedroom curtains were drawn making the room impossibly dark. She squinted, trying to discern any movement in the shadows, when a roar and a bright purple light erupted in the center of the living room.

She turned quickly and fired off three shots before the pistol was yanked from her hand by an invisible force. The transmatter portal’s light faded, and Lex stood there with one hand raised, a familiar magnetic glove holding three bullets and her pistol in the air. Lena’s eyes widened in shock as he lowered his hand and clicked his tongue.

“Now, now, Lena,” he chastised. “Is that any way to welcome your big brother back from the dead?”

He looked around the room until his eyes settled on the sofa.

“Ah, there you are,” he said.

“Don’t you touch them, you bastard,” Lena ordered, her voice little more than a growl.

Lex shook his head. “Now is that any way to introduce your children to their Uncle Lex?”

“Considering their uncle is a murderous xenophobic psychopath who should be dead right now?” Lena said sarcastically. “Yes, I’d say it’s appropriate.”

Lex took a step closer to the sofa but Lena beat him there, pulling the egg into her arms and holding it protectively against her chest. Lex just chuckled.

“It’s beautiful, in a way, how a mother protects her offspring,” he said. “We never really got to experience it, did we? I mean, my own mother was willing to poison me.”

“I’d say there were extenuating circumstances,” Lena said, trying to keep the conversation going until Kara returned. “You were plotting genocide at the time, among other things.”

“True, not to mention our family has never exactly been normal,” Lex replied. “Tell me, what did she say when she found out you killed me?”

“She slapped me,” Lena deadpanned.

“I’m touched,” Lex said dramatically, stepping away from Lena and the egg.

“She might’ve had an even more extreme reaction if you were actually dead,” Lena said. “How did you manage that, by the way? I watched you stop breathing, I felt your body turn cold. You were dead.”

“As a doornail,” Lex agreed. “But let’s just say, I’ve made deals with some interesting people with some even more interesting powers.”

“Deal with the devil?” Lena asked.

“No, I’ve met him, he’s not into that sort of thing,” Lex said nonchalantly. “All you need to know about my death, Lena, is that it didn’t stick. I’ve been alive all this time, and I’ve been watching you. I was looking forward to it, honestly. I thought finding out that your best friend had been lying to you would break you, or even better drive you to hate them the same way I do. But instead you end up in bed with her. I admit, even I didn’t see that one coming.”

“You wouldn’t understand love, Lex, it’s not something you’re capable of,” Lena told him.

Lex scowled. “Love makes you weak. It makes you afraid. See, right now, you’re terrified. Not that I’ll hurt you, no, but that I’ll hurt your precious Kryptonian, or these two eggs she’s laid.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a device that looked something like a small hairdryer. When he pressed a button on the side, it shone an eerily familiar green.

“I’ll tell you why I’m here,” Lex told her. “I have no intention of hurting my unborn nieces or nephews, as long as you cooperate.”

“Forgive me if I don’t believe you while you have a Kryptonite gun in your hand,” Lena scoffed.

“This is just insurance,” Lex shrugged. “If you remember, a few years ago I happened to find a clone of Supergirl, a blank slate of a Kryptonian that I thought I could bend to my will. But she turned out to not be an entirely blank slate, and she had just enough of the original’s heroism to become a nuisance. But a baby… Well, that’s an entirely blank slate.”

Lena’s eyes widened. “You’re not taking my children, Lex.”

“You mean you don’t trust Uncle Lex to babysit?”

“Cut the crap, Lex,” Lena hissed. “If you wanted them, why didn’t you just portal in and out before I even knew you were here?”

“Well, I would’ve done just that,” Lex said. “But my research says that they imprint on their parents’ neural patterns, so separating them from you would be fatal, even this late in their development. So I need you to go with me as well.”

“I’m not going through that portal with you,” Lena said resolutely.

“No?” Lex asked, his tone disappointed. “Well then…”

The purple light suddenly lit up behind him and he stepped through. Half a second later Lena heard the roar of the portal behind her, in the bedroom.

“NO!” Lena shouted, rushing through the door.

Lex already had the second egg cradled in his arms. He ran his fingertips over the surface, the Kryptonite gun just inches away.

“Fascinating,” he murmured. “Of all things, I never imagined they laid eggs.”

“Put it down, Lex,” Lena ordered.

Lex barked out a laugh. “Really, Lena, you think you’re in a position to give orders when I’m the one holding a gun to your unborn child? You really are a fool.”

He pressed a button on his watch and the transmatter portal lit up again. He nodded toward her.

“After you,” he said.

Lena stood frozen for a moment, contemplating her options. Lex traced the edge of his Kryptonite gun over the shell of the egg he was holding, and she stepped forward.

“That’s a good girl,” he sneered as she stepped past him.

Lena spun quickly, holding the egg she already had awkwardly in one arm and reaching out to grab the one in her brother’s hold, but she wasn’t quick enough, or perhaps Lex was just expecting such a desperate maneuver. He swung his arm toward her, sending her flying to the ground and dislodging the egg from her grasp.

For a moment, all Lena could hear was the sickening crack that sounded through the bedroom. She looked up from where she had caught herself on all fours against the hardwood floors to where the egg had landed merely a foot in front of her.

In the swirling purple light of the portal, the crack in the egg seemed even darker, and the blood pooling beneath it looked black.

The scream that tore from Lena’s throat sounded almost inhuman to her ears. Suddenly an arm grabbed her around her waist and pulled her to her feet, away from the shattered egg on the floor. Lena turned and began pounding Lex’s chest, but he pointed to the egg in his other arm.

“Keep that up, and I’ll ruin this one too,” he threatened. “It's your fault that that one’s gone, do you really want this one’s blood on your hands as well?”

Lena went limp in Lex’s grip and he pulled them through the glowing purple portal. Once on the other side he released her, and Lena only needed a moment to look around to know where they were— her personal lab at L-Corp. He pushed her into the cell to the side before engaging a forcefield that would keep her trapped.

“This is where you’re planning on keeping me?” she asked through tears.

“You think your Kryptonian or those government agents will think to check _your_ properties?” Lex asked as he placed the egg on a desk nearby. “Besides, it’s only until this one hatches. Then I won’t need you anymore.”

“So you just take my child and leave me?” Lena asked.

“Oh no, little sister,” he said, shaking his head and raising the pistol he had taken from her earlier. “Tit for tat, as they say.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rescue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for last chapter’s cliffhanger, but hopefully posting this less than 24 hrs later will make up for it.
> 
> Also, all I’m going to say is to those of you commenting that Kara’s going to kill Lex... You’re worried about the wrong mama.

Lena sat on the edge of the cot in the holding cell, watching Lex’s every move through the forcefield. He had placed a variety of sensors on the egg’s shell and connected the wires to a computer which tracked every movement inside. Lena watched as one sensor tracked the heartbeat, each tiny blip giving her hope.

Her own heart was breaking painfully in her chest. The image of a cracked shell and spilled blood was burned into her mind, and it festered into a smoldering fury unlike anything she had ever felt before. She pushed the pain and anger down for now. There would be time to deal with that later. For now she needed to keep her head on so she could figure out a way to escape with the other egg.

The weight of the beacon watch Kara had given her sat heavy on her wrist. She hadn’t used it at the cottage because she knew that Kara would be flying back as soon as she was finished fighting the robots in National City. Now the question of _what if?_ weighed heavily in her mind. Perhaps if she had pressed the button, Kara would’ve returned faster and they would’ve been able to save the other egg. But she had known that if Lex got her through the portal she would need some way to alert Kara to her location, so she hadn’t pressed it, didn’t want to alert Lex to its existence. Now she just waited for a moment when Lex was preoccupied, away from the egg and the Kryptonite gun he was carrying, but he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to move.

“So, when you broke into our apartment, you knew Kara and I wouldn’t be there,” Lena said finally.

Lex looked up from his computer and swiveled around in his chair. “Of course.”

“So getting captured was all part of the plan,” Lena said. “Let me guess, you had the call Alex made to Kara tracked so you would have our location.”

“Bingo, now you’re getting it,” Lex said. “It was simple, really. You’ve become predictable while I’ve been gone, Lena. Complacent. But I suppose having a pet Kryptonian at your beck and call will do that to you.”

“She’s not my pet,” Lena scowled, crossing her arms. “She’s my wife.”

Lex snorted and stepped closer to the forcefield. “Yes, I’m well aware. You know, I never had any problem with you fucking other women— I can see the appeal, honestly— but an alien?”

Lena ignored his barb. “She’s going to kill you, you know.”

“I doubt it,” Lex scoffed, finally standing a few feet away from her. “Last time we fought she actually tried to save me, too weak to finish the job. Besides, I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve this time, if she does find us here.”

Lena bit the inside of her jaw, stretching her arms behind her back. “Well, you’d better get your tricks ready.”

She pressed the button on the beacon watch and felt the small vibration as it sent out a sound wave only Kryptonians could hear. What she didn’t expect was the sharp shudder that passed through the egg on Lex’s desk as the baby inside heard the sound.

Lex looked from the egg to where Lena sat inside the cell, eyes landing on her wrist as she pulled it from behind her back. He closed his eyes in frustration.

“I should’ve expected that,” he conceded.

Suddenly a loud thump sounded through the room, followed by a crash as the metal door flew off its hinges. The Supergirl that strode into the room was nearly unrecognizable, with her wild hair and half-feral eyes.

“Yeah, you really should’ve,” Kara growled.

Then suddenly Lex grinned. “Oh, wait… But I did.”

Two blurs of silver metal flew across the lab— more of those damn robots, Lena realized. Each grabbed Kara by an arm as their chests began to glow red, but this time the red sun emitter didn’t appear to be having any effect. Then Lena could see it— the chain of one of the lockets Lillian had given her hung around Kara’s neck, and beside the anti-Kryptonite pendant hung a second gem, this one glowing with stored solar energy— a device Winn had fetched from the future.

Even with her powers, the robots were designed to be strong, and she struggled to get loose from their holds. While she was ensnared, Lex grabbed the egg from the desk and ran.

“Lex! No!” Lena shouted, hitting the forcefield ineffectively. “Kara! Kara, he has the egg!”

“I can’t—“ Kara began, struggling wildly.

“The forcefield, Kara, take it out!” Lena ordered, standing back.

Kara spun her head around, eyes glowing, and focused on the control panel on the wall. A moment later the forcefield flickered and disappeared. Lena ran out just as Kara pulled an arm off one of the robots.

“Kal-El is on his way!” Kara told her. “I’ve got this, you go stop him.”

Lena nodded and took off, following Lex through the corridors that she knew better than anyone. Finally she came to a large hangar-like room used mainly for storage, and Lex was standing over a large case to one side of the room.

“I can’t believe you kept it,” he said, reaching inside and pulling out a mechanical arm.

“What can I say, I’m sentimental,” Lena said. “Give me the egg.”

Lex just chuckled. “I don’t think you’re in any position to be making threats.”

He reached back into the case and pressed a button, and the mechanical suit inside whirred to life. It pieced itself together around Lex’s body until he looked remarkably similar to the robots in the other room, but still carrying the egg in one mechanical arm. He engaged the thrusters on the back of the suit and they glowed golden.

“See you around, sis,” he said cheerily. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the little one. It’s a Luthor, after all.”

He took off in a blaze, and Lena cursed, using a biometric scanner to open another nearby case. A moment later she took off after her brother, her own version of his Lexosuit blazing through the air.

She shot at his foot— enough to get his attention but not enough to make him drop the egg he carried. He whirled around with wide eyes.

“Did you really think you were the only one with toys?” Lena asked.

Lex scowled and took off toward the exit again, but Lena cut him off— her updated version of the suit was faster than his by design. She herded him around the hangar several times before he finally stopped.

“Give me the egg, Lex,” Lena said. “You’re not taking my child.”

“No?” Lex shouted, raising his free arm and firing at Lena. She raised the arm of her suit and a forcefield shield covered her, absorbing the shot’s energy easily.

“I designed this to counteract everything your suit does, Lex,” she said. “You’re not getting away from here.”

She could practically hear Lex gritting his teeth as he weighed his options. Finally his face relaxed and he seemed to come to a conclusion.

“Fine, have it your way,” he said, holding the egg out toward her in both hands. Just as Lena moved toward him, he released his hold, and the egg went plummeting toward the ground.

“No!” Lena shouted, diving toward the ground. She felt impacts as Lex fired into her unprotected back, but she kept diving. But just before the egg hit the ground, a blue and crimson blur dove beneath it, and Kara caught the egg against her chest.

“I’ve got it,” Kara assured her. “You get him.”

Lena turned to see Lex flying out the door of the hangar, and she let the rage that had been festering build and take over. She flew after him, aiming the guns on her arms for the suit, and fired rapidly. One of her shots hit a joint in the suit, passing through the mechanical center, and Lex crashed to the ground. Before he could get his bearings, Lena was on him, ripping at the suit before pummeling the man inside.

“You. Will. Not. Hurt. My. Family. Ever. Again.” Lena said, emphasizing each word with a punch from her mechanical suit. With each impact Lex’s face and chest became nearly unrecognizable as blood dripped from his nose and open wounds on his forehead. His breath came in shuddering coughs and wheezes as she pummeled his chest, the sickening crunch of breaking ribs louder than his breathing.

“Lena! Lena, stop!”

Warm hands pulled her back, but Lena pushed her wife aside, intent on ruining the man who had hurt her family. This time she would ruin his body so that it was impossible for him to come back and hurt her ever again.

“Lena, stop!” Kara shouted again, pulling her away, and the only thing that kept Lena from fighting Kara’s hold was the fear of jostling the precious egg she held in her other arm.

“Why are you stopping me?” Lena shouted, but her voice came out as a sob.

“Because I saw you last time you killed him,” Kara said sadly. “It almost destroyed you. I won’t let you do that again. Kal can take care of him this time.”

“It won’t destroy me this time,” Lena said fiercely. “Not after… Not after… God, Kara, he killed them!”

“Killed who?” Kara asked.

Lena’s eyes widened in shock. God, Kara didn’t know. “Kara, the other egg, he… Oh, God, if I had just…”

Agony like nothing Lena had ever felt filled her and she turned back toward Lex with an enraged sob, but Kara caught her again.

“Shh, Lena, it’s okay,” Kara told her. “_She’s_ okay.”

Those words caught Lena’s attention. “_She_?”

Kara smiled softly. “Yeah, she. She’s okay. Our daughter’s okay.”

“Where is she?” Lena asked.

“She’s at the DEO,” Kara replied. “The only reason the shell broke is because she was close to hatching anyway. She’s fine, perfectly healthy, breathing on her own and everything. Our daughter. Eleanor.”

Lena could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She reached for the button on her chest that disengaged the suit she was wearing, and stepped out of the mechanical mess and into Kara’s arms.

“Take me to our daughter, Kara,” she ordered.

——

The DEO was quiet, as if they hadn’t dealt with an army of robots, a kidnapping, and a xenophobic psychopath in the last twenty-four hours. A few agents shuffled by, tending to their duties, but Lena paid them no mind.

All of her attention was on the tiny bundle in her arms.

Eleanor Alura Luthor-Danvers was the most perfect thing Lena had ever laid eyes on. From the dusting of dark hair on top of her tiny head to the tips of her chubby toes, she was absolutely perfect. Lena stared at her beautiful face in awe, memorizing the way her round little cheeks squished when she swallowed, how her bow-shaped lips twitched in her sleep. Her eyes were closed in sleep, but already they were the same perfect piercing shade of blue of her Kryptonian mother’s. Her hand was wrapped around Lena’s finger as she slept, swaddled in the blanket Alura had sent them from Argo, and Lena found herself watching for every tiny puff of breath, every miniscule movement.

“Hey, we’ve got movement over here,” Kara announced softly. Lena stepped across the room slowly, careful not to wake their sleeping firstborn. Kara was standing over a bassinet, and inside the second egg was slowly cracking open.

“Are you sure we can’t help it?” Lena asked.

“They’re strong enough to do it on their own,” Kara replied. “Just a bit more, little one. You can do it.”

The egg shuddered at Kara’s voice, and flexed like it was breathing, until one of the small cracks across the surface parted even further and a rush of red-tinted fluid rushed out. What Lena had thought was blood was actually the equivalent of the amniotic fluid within the egg. Once the fluid was gone the baby inside pushed away the shell and the small, wriggling infant grunted and cried unhappily.

“There you are,” Kara said happily. She scooped the baby up into her arms and carried her over to a small sink. She wiped her down with a wet cloth, murmuring soft reassurances with every motion. Lena followed, peering over Kara’s shoulder as she washed their second daughter.

“Hello, Elizabeth,” she murmured, gently extracting her finger from Eleanor’s grip so she could reach out and stroke the newborn’s head. Unlike her sister, the fuzz on Elizabeth’s head appeared to be fine and blonde. She squirmed as Lena touched her, eyes seeking the source of the sensation, and Lena gasped as green eyes the same shade as her own looked up at her.

“She’s beautiful,” Kara declared as she tucked a tiny diaper around the baby’s hips and swaddled her in the other blanket.

“She is,” Lena said. “They both are.”

Kara grinned proudly. “Should we go tell Kelly that she won the bet on genders?”

“Not yet,” Lena said, moving to the bed they had prepared nearby. It wasn’t as comfortable as home, but it would do until they were absolutely certain that Lex was dealt with. “I want to spend some time with them first, just us.”

Kara followed and they laid down in the bed, twins nestled between them. They both stared down at them, these two tiny lives that they had created.

“You’re sure on her name?” Kara asked.

Lena nodded. “Yep. Elizabeth Kieran. That way between the two of them, they each carry a little bit of all of our mothers… Well, except Lillian, but I guess the lockets can count for that.”

Kara snorted. “Agreed. Sorry, not naming my children after the woman who tried to kill me on multiple occasions, even if she is my mother-in-law.”

“Agreed,” Lena said. “Kara whatever happens… This is my family now, the only one that matters. You and me and these two little dragons.”

Kara floated slightly over the twins and kissed Lena’s forehead. “Understood. But we’ll deal with that in the morning. For now, let’s just rest, okay?”

“Okay,” Lena replied, looking back down at the babies between them. “But I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep. I just want to keep looking at them.”

“I know what you mean,” Kara said softly. “Lena?”

“Hmm?” she mumbled softly as she adjusted Elizabeth’s blanket.

“I love you. And I love our babies.”

Lena smiled. “I love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter left for this, I think, and then an epilogue.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with Lex.  
Home with the babies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost to the end.

“Aren’t you just the cutest thing in the whole universe? Yes you are! Yes you are!”

Lena finished pulling Elizabeth’s onesie over her legs and grinned at Eliza. The now three-time grandmother was tickling Eleanor’s sides as the newborn cooed up at her from where she was lying on the DEO cot.

“Careful, Eliza, your other granddaughters might get jealous,” Lena warned, scooping Elizabeth up into her arms.

“They’re all tied for cutest,” Eliza said with a shrug. “Oh, look at you!”

Elizabeth looked at her namesake with wide green eyes as Eliza scooped her out of Lena’s arms.

“I never thought I would dress my children in ruffles,” Lena sighed, taking in the matching onesies Eliza had brought for the girls to wear home. Elizabeth was in lilac and Eleanor was in blush pink, and the footed onesies had ruffles along the front and around the sleeves.

“Get used to it,” Eliza warned. “Alex stopped wearing anything frilly past the age of three. Kelly has already given me her permission to dress Sophie in as much pink and ruffles as I want, no matter what Alex says. I plan on doing the same for these two.”

Lena sighed. “Well… they do look adorable.”

“See, I knew Mama would like it,” Eliza whispered to Elizabeth conspiratorially.

Lena rolled her eyes at her mother-in-law. Eleanor squirmed and let out a disgruntled gurgle.

“Oh, is someone feeling left out?” she said, scooping her daughter up into her arms. “There you go, Mama’s got you.” She looked up and caught Eliza looking at her and beaming. “What?”

“I told you you’d be wonderful,” Eliza said with a wink.

Lena felt her cheeks redden and she looked down at where Eleanor was snuggled into her chest, their bodies molded together as if they were made from the same clay.

“I imagine it’s all going to get more difficult from here,” she said honestly.

Eliza shrugged. “Yes… and no, all things considered. But the loving them part, that stays the same.”

Lena smiled down at the baby she held. “Yes, that part’s easy.”

A knock on the door drew her attention, and she turned to see Kara standing in the doorway wearing her Supergirl suit. She smiled at the sight of her adoptive-mother and wife holding her daughters, but the expression didn’t quite mask the worry in her eyes.

“We’re ready,” she said simply.

Lena nodded and turned toward Eliza. “You’ll stay with them?”

“It’ll be my pleasure,” the older blonde nodded. She positioned Elizabeth carefully in one arm and took Eleanor in the other. “See, this is why grandmas have two arms.”

Lena took one last look at the twins before following Kara from the room. They made their way through the hallway silently, the weight of what was about to happen heavy on their shoulders.

“Are you sure you want to be there for this?” Kara asked.

“I’m sure,” Lena told her.

They came to the cells where Lex was being kept, only to be met with familiar faces— Alex, J’onn, and Clark in his suit. Lena stepped past them all to look into the cell.

Lex was sitting on the cot looking bored with the entire situation, bouncing a ball against the wall. His torso was wrapped in gauze to support his broken ribs, his face was still swollen and purple from her punches, and a nasal cannula delivered oxygen to his bruised lungs. Still, his eyes were bright and alert, as calculating as ever as he appeared to be ignoring the crowd that had gathered outside his cell.

“We have two daughters, Lex,” Lena said. “You failed.”

Lex just grinned and rolled the ball between his fingers. “This time.”

“No,” Lena told him. “You’ll never touch them ever again.”

“You think this cell can hold me?” Lex asked. “You think _any_ cell can hold me? I have escaped death itself. Do you think walls are going to keep me away from you or the ones you hold dear?”

“No,” Lena replied. “But time and space, that’s a different story.”

Lex’s brow furrowed in confusion as Kara and Clark stepped up to flank Lena.

“We’ve been in contact with President Stewart,” Clark said. “We’re invoking the Kryptonian right of _Threhk Tahrao_.”

“_Blood Justice_?” Lex translated. “Sounds a little dark for you two.”

“_Threhk Tahrao_ is an agreement between Kryptonians and the natives of the planets they colonize,” Kara explained, ignoring Lex’s jab. “If a native commits a crime against a Kryptonian colonizer, the native criminal is surrendered to the Kryptonians to face their justice system, and vice versa.”

“You won’t be facing the American justice system this time, Lex,” Superman told him. “You’re taking a one-way trip to Argo City, where you’ll be tried by the High Council. For your crimes, they will sentence you to spend the rest of eternity in the Phantom Zone.”

“I’ve been there, Lex,” Kara said, her voice low. “I spent twenty-four years trapped there. Time doesn’t pass. You’re frozen, suspended in darkness and nothingness with nothing but your thoughts to keep you company. Breath caught in your lungs because you can’t breathe, choking for air but you can’t die. You’ll wish you were dead, many times over.”

Lena reached for Kara’s hand, pulling her from the memory. After her own experience in the Phantom Zone, Lena knew Kara wouldn’t wish it on anyone. But Lex wasn’t just anyone.

“You never should’ve gone after our children,” Lena said, her voice low. “And you’ll never touch them again.”

Alex opened the door to the cell and J’onn and Clark stepped inside. They dragged Lex from the room, through the hallway, toward where J’onn’s spaceship was waiting to take them to Argo.

“You can’t do this!” Lex spat finally. “I’m an American citizen!”

“You’re technically dead,” J’onn said. “Plus, the President was only too happy to agree to surrender you to Kryptonian justice.”

Lex thrashed pointlessly against their holds. “I’ll find a way back. And when I do…”

The door slid shut behind them, muffling Lex’s rant. Kara pulled Lena into her arms.

“He’s never coming back,” Kara assured her.

“I know,” Lena said into Kara’s neck. “I know.”

From beside them, Alex cleared her throat.

“I’m just gonna go call the President to let her know he’s gone,” she said before heading out.

“Thanks, Alex,” Lena said. She rubbed Kara’s back lightly. “Hey.”

Kara pulled away slightly. “Hey?”

Lena grinned up at her. “Let’s take our babies home. Okay?”

Kara smiled back. “Okay.”

——

Over the years, Lena had become accustomed to her sleep being disturbed. Whether it was an emergency call from L-Corp or the DEO, or Kara coming in late or slipping out for a Supergirl emergency, she was used to waking up during the night.

Or so she thought.

“Ellie, honey, you _literally_ just ate,” she mumbled, rolling over in bed to face the soft-sided co-sleeper attached to the side of the mattress.

Eleanor wasn’t crying yet, just making the disgruntled grumbling sounds that usually preceded her hungry crying. Lena lowered the mesh side and placed a hand comfortingly on the baby’s chest.

“Just give me a minute, Ellie,” she said, still trying to force the rest of her body to wake up.

“I got it,” Kara said, startling Lena a bit because she hadn’t even realized her wife was awake.

“You don’t have to,” Lena told her, but it was half-hearted.

“Nah, I’ll get the bottles,” Kara volunteered, floating herself from beneath the covers. “Besides, if she’s awake, you know Lizzy’s going to be crying in just a minute.”

Lena groaned into her pillow. She wasn’t sure how two week-old infants could have so much personality, but Kara was definitely right. Eleanor was already showing a definite stubborn streak, rebelling against diaper changes and baths and putting on clothes by either wiggling excessively or completely stiffening her little body against whatever they were trying to do to her. But she rarely ever voiced her displeasure with crying, unless she was very hungry or had a dirty diaper. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was extremely vocal in voicing her displeasure at even the smallest upset, whether it was a minute sensation of hunger, twisting the sleeve of her onesie, or dropping her pacifier.

As if on cue, Elizabeth chose that moment to wake up. There was no transition from sleep to crying, no soft gurgles of warning like her sister. Instead one moment her breath was soft and even, and the next she was emitting ear-splitting wails as if the world was going to end.

Lena pushed herself up from the mattress and scooted across the bed to pick Lizzy up from her sleeper.

“Come here, my little drama queen,” she said, placing her knuckle in her daughter’s mouth for her to suck until Kara brought her bottle— it would only work for a moment, but it was worth a try. “So dramatic, just like your _Jeju_.”

“Hey, I am not that dramatic,” Kara said defensively, returning to the bedroom with two warm bottles. She handed one over to Lena and circled around the bed to pick Eleanor up and give her the other one.

“Kara, I once saw you cry while waiting for our Chinese takeout to arrive,” Lena said dryly as she gave Lizzy her bottle. “And they both inherited your appetite.”

Kara propped herself up on a stack of pillows and began feeding Ellie. “Well, if I remember correctly, I have also seen you eat what had to be an inhuman amount of breadsticks, so…”

Lena chuckled. “Okay, so maybe they got their appetites honestly.”

“Mmhmm,” Kara mumbled in agreement.

Lena watched as Kara cradled Eleanor against her chest and stroked her dark hair as she ate. She could hear Kara humming in Kryptonese beneath her breath, and Eleanor watched her with bright blue eyes that matched Kara’s perfectly.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Kara asked drowsily, stopping her humming.

“You,” Lena said honestly.

Kara looked back down at the baby and blushed. Lena just grinned and looked down as Elizabeth finished her bottle. She burped the baby then scooted to sit beside Kara against the pillows. Kara sat up to burp Eleanor, then leaned back and rested her head against Lena’s shoulder.

“I didn’t know,” Lena said softly. “I didn’t know I could love them this much. I didn’t know I could love _you_ this much. I didn’t know that I could fall more in love with you at two-thirty in the morning watching you hold our daughter, but I do, every time.”

“I feel the same,” Kara murmured. They sat quietly, watching as the babies fell back to sleep in their arms.

“Thank you,” Lena whispered.

“For what?” Kara asked.

“For giving me a family,” Lena replied. “When we met, I had so many walls built up. And you chipped your way through and knocked them down. Then you pulled me out of darkness so deep that I couldn’t see the light anymore. You never gave up on me.”

“You were worth it,” Kara assured her, turning her head to kiss her cheek. “All of this, it’s worth it.”

“It was,” Lena said, looking down at the twins. “You know, I don’t want them to grow up at all, but I can’t decide if I’m more excited to watch them grow up or watch you be a mom.”

“Both,” Kara said definitively.

“Yeah, definitely both,” Lena agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue coming soon.


	12. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fourteen years later...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end.

Epilogue  
Fourteen Years Later

“Ellie! Lizzy! Breakfast!”

A sudden breeze blew Lena’s hair over her shoulders and signaled that her daughters had entered the kitchen. Lena turned with two plates piled high with microwaveable waffles— something she had sworn for years that she would never feed her children— and bowls of fresh fruit— her attempt to make up for the waffles.

“Do I need to check over your calculus homework?” Lena asked, placing the plates in front of them.

“Nope, it’s all good,” Lizzy replied. Her blonde hair was pulled back with a scrunchy, wispy curls framing her face, and lead-lined glasses with bright pink frames sat on her nose.

“I’m good,” Ellie replied. Her dark hair was braided in some elaborate style she had found online, with neon extensions braided in. Her lead-lined glasses with thick black frames were almost too large for her face, and her blue eyes were lined with more eyeliner than Lena thought was appropriate, or attractive, but she couldn’t convince Eleanor of that.

“Makeup,” Lena said, holding out a wipe she kept on hand for these exact situations. Eleanor took it with a huff.

“I told you,” Lizzy muttered.

“Shut up,” Eleanor grumbled as she wiped the eyeliner from her face. “Do I look like a raccoon now?”

Lena took the wipe from her daughter and began wiping the rest of the makeup from her face. “A very cute raccoon.”

Ellie huffed with frustration as she pushed the glasses back onto her face. Lena reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of chocolate sauce— a peace offering.

“Don’t make a mess, I’m going to check on your brother,” Lena warned.

“Where’s _Jeju_?” Eleanor asked.

“She had a late night, so I thought I’d let her sleep,” Lena replied.

She headed upstairs quietly, brushing past her bedroom door to the room at the end of the hall.

Elliot Jack Luthor-Danvers was seven-years-old and going through one of many independent streaks. He was demanding to choose his own clothes the same way his sisters did, and Lena was a little anxious to see what he had picked out.

“El, you ready?” she asked.

“Yeah!” he replied. The door flew open and he stood back with an effervescent smile that he had inherited straight from Kara Danvers. “Do you like it, Mama?”

Lena couldn’t help the smirk that spread across her face. Elliot looked like the younger, male version of Kara, from the mop of wavy blond hair that perfectly framed his blue eyes, down to the plaid button-up shirt, khaki cargo pants, and brown loafers.

“You look very handsome, _unah_,” she said honestly. “I’m very proud of you.”

“I even got all the buttons!” Elliot declared proudly, hugging Lena’s legs.

“You sure did,” Lena smiled happily. “Are you ready for some waffles?”

“Waffles!” he exclaimed, hurrying past her down to the kitchen.

Thankfully, the seven-year-old’s powers hadn’t kicked in yet, except for invulnerability, which was really handy considering how accident prone the little daredevil was. Eleanor and Elizabeth had been eleven when their superhearing and x-ray vision began to come in, and now they could use superspeed and flight at will. Apparently heat vision and frost breath were the last two abilities to come in.

Lena stood at the top of the stairs, watching as her daughters pulled up a third chair for their little brother and fixed his plate for him. Her daughters were such different individuals. Eleanor was going through some alt-punk faze— at least, Lena hoped it was a faze— and her wardrobe consisted of an inordinate amount of black. Elizabeth was almost always in pastels. Both girls were incredibly smart, taking advanced placement courses, and were members of the school’s honor society, matheletes, and science club. Eleanor was captain of the chess club and also participated in theatre. Elizabeth did cheerleading and sang solos in the school chorus. But they were both good kids, and they adored their little brother.

Elliot had been a welcome addition. She and Kara hadn’t been sure if she would ever conceive again. They had tracked Kara’s hormone levels, and once the twins started school they had spiked. They hadn’t expected anything, but they hadn’t prevented anything either, continuing with life and sex as usual. Then one day Kara disappeared into the closet again, and Lena called Alex.

“Okay, finish up kids, we need to get going if you’re going to make it to school on time,” Lena called down before heading toward the master bedroom.

She padded across the carpeted floor to the bed and reached down toward the covers.

“Kara, darling, wa—“ she froze as her hand met flat comforter and empty sheets. She looked toward the bathroom door, but it was wide open and the lights were off. “Kara?”

There was only one place left to check. Lena stepped toward the closet door and knocked softly.

“Kara?” she called softly, opening the door with a click.

A soft red glow spilled out from the cracked door, and Kara hissed defensively. Lena closed the door quickly. Her heartbeat quickened, and a small grin came to her face as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed the second number on speed dial.

“Lena? What’s wrong? Is Kara okay? Are the kids okay?”

Lena’s grin broadened. Some things never changed.

“Hello, dear sister-in-law,” she greeted. “Kara’s in the closet again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for coming on this ride with me, guys! Writing this story has gotten me through some rough times, and getting your wonderful comments and feedback has definitely helped as well.
> 
> In case you want to keep reading my stuff, I’m working on The Collection, which is an alpha/omega story, with a heavy premise, so not everyone’s cup of tea. I’ve posted one chapter of Puppy Love, a fluffy AU based on 101 Dalmatians. And I’m really hoping to eventually get back to To the Moon and Back, which is another kid-fic but totally different from this one.
> 
> Also, if you haven’t yet, read my Christmas one-shot sort-of-sequel to this, Pictures With Santa.
> 
> Come yell at me on tumblr!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, leave comments and kudos if you enjoyed my insanity, it makes my heart happy.
> 
> Obviously this is no longer a one-shot due in part to overwhelmingly positive feedback and my brain just will not shut up with ideas for this story. So hang on to your hats, folks, it’s gonna be a crazy ride.


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